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diff --git a/25511.txt b/25511.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..18f5428 --- /dev/null +++ b/25511.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9478 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes +of Mirth, by Frank Sidgwick + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and Fyttes of Mirth + Popular Ballads of the Olden Times - Second Series + +Author: Frank Sidgwick + +Release Date: May 18, 2008 [EBook #25511] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF MYSTERY AND MIRACLE *** + + + + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: + +This text is intended for users whose text readers can use neither the +"real" (unicode/utf-8) version of the file nor the simplified latin-1 version. A few Greek words have been transliterated and shown between =marks=, with eta and omega shown as e: and o:; the one reference to +long "s" is shown as [s]. Other accented letters have been either "unpacked" (oe, ae) or reduced to their simple forms. + +The printed text used small capitals for emphasis. These have been +replaced with +marks+ where appropriate. Missing lines were shown +by rows of widely spaced dots (single lines) or asterisks (longer +sections). They are shown here in groups of three: + + ... ... ... + or + *** *** *** + +All brackets are in the original, except footnotes and similar material. +Sidenote references in the Appendix are unchanged from the original. +Errors are listed at the end of the e-text.] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +_Uniform with this Volume_ + + +POPULAR BALLADS OF THE OLDEN TIME + +FIRST SERIES. Ballads of Romance and Chivalry. + + +'It forms an excellent introduction to a sadly neglected source of +poetry.... We ... hope that it will receive ample encouragement.' +--_Athenaeum_. + +'It will certainly, if carried out as it is begun, constitute a boon to +the lover of poetry.... We shall look with anxiety for the following +volumes of what will surely be the best popular edition in existence.' +--_Notes and Queries_. + +'There can be nothing but praise for the selection, editing, and notes, +which are all excellent and adequate. It is, in fine, a valuable volume +of what bids fair to be a very valuable series.' --_Academy_. + +'The most serviceable edition of the ballads yet published in England.' +--_Manchester Guardian_. + + [Transcriber's Note: + The First Series is available from Project Gutenberg as e-text + 20469. All references to "First Series" are to this volume. + The Third Series (not listed here) is "Ballads of Scottish + Tradition and Romance", e-text 20624. The Fourth Series, "Ballads + of Robin Hood and other Outlaws", is in preparation.] + + + + + POPULAR BALLADS + OF THE OLDEN TIME + SELECTED AND EDITED + BY FRANK SIDGWICK + + Second Series. Ballads of + Mystery and Miracle and + Fyttes of Mirth + + 'Gar print me ballants weel, she said, + Gar print me ballants many.' + + + + + A. H. BULLEN + 47 Great Russell Street + London. MCMIV + + + + + 'What man of taste and feeling can endure + _rifacimenti_, harmonies, abridgments, + expurgated editions?' + + Macaulay. + + + + +CONTENTS + Page + + Preface ix + Ballads in the Second Series x + Additional Note on Ballad Commonplaces xvi + + Thomas Rymer 1 + The Queen of Elfan's Nourice 6 + Allison Gross 9 + The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea 12 + Kemp Owyne 16 + Willie's Lady 19 + The Wee Wee Man 24 + Cospatrick 26 + Young Akin 32 + The Unquiet Grave 41 + Clerk Colven 43 + Tam Lin 47 + The Clerk's Twa Sons o' Owsenford 56 + The Wife of Usher's Well 60 + The Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie 63 + Clerk Sanders 66 + Young Hunting 74 + The Three Ravens 80 + The Twa Corbies 82 + Young Benjie 83 + The Lyke-Wake Dirge 88 + The Bonny Earl of Murray 92 + Bonnie George Campbell 95 + The Lament of the Border Widow 97 + Bonny Bee Ho'm 100 + The Lowlands of Holland 102 + Fair Helen of Kirconnell 104 + Sir Hugh, or The Jew's Daughter 107 + The Daemon Lover 112 + The Broomfield Hill 115 + Willie's Fatal Visit 119 + Adam 123 + Saint Stephen and King Herod 125 + The Cherry-Tree Carol 129 + The Carnal and the Crane 133 + Dives and Lazarus 139 + Brown Robyn's Confession 143 + Judas 145 + The Maid and the Palmer 152 + Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight 155 + A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded 159 + Captain Wedderburn 162 + The Elphin Knight 170 + King John and the Abbot 173 + The Fause Knight upon the Road 180 + The Lord of Learne 182 + The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington 202 + Glenlogie 205 + King Orfeo 208 + The Baffled Knight 212 + Our Goodman 215 + The Friar in the Well 221 + The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter 224 + Get Up and Bar the Door 231 + + Appendix 235 + The Grey Selchie of Shool Skerry 235 + The Lyke-wake Dirge 238 + Index of Titles 245 + Index of First Lines 247 + + + + +PREFACE + + +The issue of this second volume of _Popular Ballads of the Olden Time_ +has been delayed chiefly by the care given to the texts, in most +instances the whole requiring to be copied by hand. + +I consider myself fortunate to be enabled, by the kind service of +my friend Mr. A. Francis Steuart, to print for the first time in a +collection of ballads the version of the _Grey Selchie of Shool Skerry_ +given in the Appendix. It is a feather in the cap of any ballad-editor +after Professor Child to discover a ballad that escaped his eye. + +My thanks are also due to the Rev. Professor W. W. Skeat for assistance +generously given in connection with the ballad of _Judas_; and, as +before, to Mr. A. H. Bullen. + + F. S. + + + + +BALLADS IN THE SECOND SERIES + + +The ballads in the present volume have been classified roughly so +as to fall under the heads (i) Ballads of Superstition and of the +Supernatural, including Dirges (pp. 1-122); (ii) Ballads of Sacred +Origin (pp. 123-154); (iii) Ballads of Riddle and Repartee (pp. +155-181); and (iv) a few ballads, otherwise almost unclassifiable, +collected under the title of 'Fyttes of Mirth,' or Merry Ballads +(pp. 182 to end). + + +I + +That the majority of the ballads in the first section are Scottish can +hardly cause surprise. Superstition lurks amongst the mountains and in +the corners of the earth. And, with one remarkable exception, all the +best lyrical work in these ballads of the supernatural is to be found in +the Scots. _Thomas Rymer_, _Tam Lin_, _The Wife of Usher's Well_, _Clerk +Sanders_, and _The Daemon Lover_, are perhaps the most notable examples +amongst the ballads proper, and _Fair Helen of Kirconnell_, _The Twa +Corbies_, and _Bonnie George Campbell_ amongst the dirges. All these +are known wherever poetry is read. + + 'For dulness, the creeping Saxons; + For beauty and amorousness, the Gaedhills.' + +But the exception referred to above, _The Unquiet Grave_, is true +English, and yet lyrical, singing itself, like a genuine ballad, to a +tune as one reads. + +The complete superstition hinted at in this ballad should perhaps be +stated more fully. It is obvious that excessive mourning is fatal to +the peace of the dead; but it is also to be noticed that it is almost +equally fatal to the mourner. The mourner in _The Unquiet Grave_ is +refused the kiss demanded, as it will be fatal. _Clerk Sanders_, on the +other hand, has lost--if ever it possessed--any trace of this doctrine. +For Margret does not die; though she would have died had she kissed him, +we notice, and the kiss was demanded by her and refused by him: and +Clerk Sanders is only disturbed in his grave because he has not got back +his troth-plight. The method of giving this back--the stroking of a +wand--we have had before in _The Brown Girl_ (First Series, pp. 60-62, +st. 14). + +In the Helgi cycle of Early Western epics (_Corpus Poeticum Boreale_, +vol. i. pp. 128 ff.), Helgi the hero is slain, and returns as a ghost to +his lady, who follows him to his grave. But her tears are bad for him: +they fall in blood on his corpse. + +The subject of the Lyke-wake would easily bear a monograph to itself, +and at present I know of none. I have therefore ventured, in choosing +Aubrey's version in place of the better known one printed--and doubtless +written over--by Sir Walter Scott, to give rather fuller information +concerning the Dirge, its folklore, and its bibliography. A short study +of the ramifications of the various superstitions incorporated therein +leads to a sort of surprise that there is no popular ballad treating of +the subject of St. Patrick's Purgatory, which has attracted more than +one English poet. Thomas Wright's volume on the subject, however, is +delightful and instructive reading. + + +II + +The short section of Ballads of Sacred Origin contains all that we +possess in England--notice that only two have Scottish variants, even +fragmentary--and somewhat more than can be classified as ballads with +strictness. Yet I would fain have added other of our 'masterless' +carols, which to-day seem to survive chiefly in the West of England. +One of their best lovers, Mr. Quiller-Couch, has complained that, after +promising himself to include a representative selection of carols in his +anthology, he was chagrined to discover that they lost their quaint +delicacy when placed among other more artificial lyrics. Perhaps they +would have been more at home set amongst these ballads; but I have +excluded them with the less regret in remembering that they stand well +alone in the collections of Sylvester, Sandys, Husk; in the reprints of +Thomas Wright; and, in more recent years, in the selections of Mr. A. H. +Bullen and Canon Beeching. + +_The Maid and the Palmer_ would appear to be the only ballad of Christ's +wanderings on the earth that we possess, just as _Brown Robyn's +Confession_ is the only one of the miracles of the Virgin. One may +guess, however, that others have descended rapidly into nursery rhymes, +as in the case of one, noted in J. O. Halliwell's collection, which, in +its absence, may be called _The Owl, or the Baker's Daughter_. For +Ophelia knew that they said the owl was the baker's daughter. And the +story of her metamorphosis is exactly paralleled by the Norse story of +_Gertrude's Bird_, translated by Dasent. + +Gertrude was an old woman with a red mutch on her head, who was kneading +dough, when Christ came wandering by, and asked for a small bannock. +Gertrude took a niggardly pinch of dough, and began to roll it into a +bannock; but as she rolled, it grew, until she put it aside as too +large to give away, and took a still smaller pinch. This also grew +miraculously, and was put aside. The same thing happened a third time, +till she said, 'I cannot roll you a small bannock.' Then Christ said, +'For your selfishness, you shall become a bird, and seek your food +'twixt bark and bole.' Gertrude at once became a bird, and flew up +into a tree with a screech. And to this day the great woodpecker of +Scandinavia is called 'Gertrude's Bird,' and has a red head. + + +III + +The Ballads of Riddle and Repartee do not amount to very many in our +tongue. But they contain riddles which may be found in one form or +another in nearly every folklore on the earth. Even Samson had a riddle. +Always popular, they seem to have been especial favourites in early +Oriental literature, in the mediaeval Latin races, and, in slightly more +modern times, amongst the Teutonic and Scandinavian peoples. Perhaps +_King John and the Abbot_ is the best English specimen, for it is to-day +as pleasing to an audience as it can ever have been. But _Lady Isabel +and the Elf Knight_, better known as _May Colvin_, is the most startling +of any, in its myriad ramifications and supposed origin. + + +IV + +The 'Fyttes of Mirth' conclude the present volume. It may be as well to +say here that I have placed under this head any ballad that tells of a +successful issue and has a happy ending or mirthful climax. + +The version I have given of that famous ballad _The Lord of Learne_ (or, +more commonly, _Lorne_) is most enchanting in its _naivete_, and, when +read aloud or recited, is exceedingly effective. The curious remark that +the affectionate parting between the young Lord and his father and +mother would have changed even a Jew's heart; the picturesque +description of the siege of the castle, so close that 'a swallow could +not have flown away'; the sudden descent from romance to a judicial +trial; the remarkable assumption by the foreman of the jury of the +privileges of a judge; and the thoroughly satisfactory description of +the false steward's execution-- + + 'I-wis they did him curstly cumber!' + +--all these help to form the ever-popular _Lord of Learne_. + +The remaining 'Fyttes of Mirth' are mostly well known, and require no +further comment. + + + + +ADDITION TO GLOSSARY OF BALLAD COMMONPLACES + +(See First Series, pp. xlvi-li) + + +The late Professor York Powell explained to me, since the note on 'gare' +(First Series, p. 1) was written, that the word means exactly what is +meant by 'gore' in modern dressmaking. The antique skirt was made of +four pieces: two cut square, to form the front and the back; and two of +a triangular shape, to fill the space between, the apex of the triangle, +of course, being at the waist. Thus a knife that 'hangs low down' by a +person's 'gare,' simply means that the knife hung at the side and not in +front. + + + + +THOMAS RYMER + + ++The Text.+--The best-known text of this famous ballad is that given by +Scott in the _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_, derived 'from a copy +obtained from a lady residing not far from Erceldoune, corrected and +enlarged by one in Mrs. Brown's MS.' Scott's ballad is compounded, +therefore, of a traditional version, and the one here given, from the +Tytler-Brown MS., which was printed by Jamieson with a few changes. It +does not mention Huntlie bank or the Eildon tree. Scott's text may be +seen printed parallel with Jamieson's in Professor J. A. H. Murray's +book referred to below. + + ++The Story.+--As early as the fourteenth century there lived a Thomas +of Erceldoune, or Thomas the Rhymer, who had a reputation as a seer +and prophet. His fame was not extinct in the nineteenth century, and +a collection of prophecies by him and Merlin and others, first issued +in 1603, could be found at the beginning of that century 'in most +farmhouses in Scotland' (Murray, _The Romance and Prophecies of Thomas +of Erceldoune_, E.E.T.S., 1875). The existence of a Thomas de Ercildoun, +son and heir of Thomas Rymour de Ercildoun, both living during the +thirteenth century, is recorded in contemporary documents. + +A poem, extant in five manuscripts (all printed by Murray as above), +of which the earliest was written about the middle of the fifteenth +century, relates that Thomas of Erceldoune his prophetic powers were +given him by the Queen of Elfland, who bore him away to her country for +some years, and then restored him to this world lest he should be chosen +for the tribute paid to hell. So much is told in the first fytte, which +corresponds roughly to our ballad. The rest of the poem consists of +prophecies taught to him by the Queen. + +The poem contains references to a still earlier story, which probably +narrated only the episode of Thomas's adventure in Elfland, and to which +the prophecies of Thomas Rymour of Ercildoun were added at a later date. +The story of Thomas and the Queen of Elfland is only another version of +a legend of Ogier le Danois and Morgan the Fay. + +Our ballad is almost certainly derived directly from the poem, and the +version here given is not marred by the repugnant ending of Scott's +ballad, where Thomas objects to the gift of a tongue that can never lie. +But Scott's version retains Huntlie bank and the Eildon tree, both +mentioned in the old poem, and both exactly located during last century +at the foot of the Eildon Hills, above Melrose (see an interesting +account in Murray, _op. cit._, Introduction, pp. l-lii and footnotes). + + +THOMAS RYMER + + 1. + True Thomas lay o'er yond grassy bank, + And he beheld a ladie gay, + A ladie that was brisk and bold, + Come riding o'er the fernie brae. + + 2. + Her skirt was of the grass-green silk, + Her mantel of the velvet fine, + At ilka tett of her horse's mane + Hung fifty silver bells and nine. + + 3. + True Thomas he took off his hat, + And bowed him low down till his knee: + 'All hail, thou mighty Queen of Heaven! + For your peer on earth I never did see.' + + 4. + 'O no, O no, True Thomas,' she says, + 'That name does not belong to me; + I am but the queen of fair Elfland, + And I'm come here for to visit thee. + + 5. + 'But ye maun go wi' me now, Thomas, + True Thomas, ye maun go wi' me, + For ye maun serve me seven years, + Thro' weel or wae, as may chance to be.' + + 6. + She turned about her milk-white steed, + And took True Thomas up behind, + And aye whene'er her bridle rang, + The steed flew swifter than the wind. + + 7. + For forty days and forty nights + He wade thro' red blude to the knee, + And he saw neither sun nor moon, + But heard the roaring of the sea. + + 8. + O they rade on, and further on, + Until they came to a garden green: + 'Light down, light down, ye ladie free, + Some of that fruit let me pull to thee.' + + 9. + 'O no, O no, True Thomas,' she says, + 'That fruit maun not be touched by thee, + For a' the plagues that are in hell + Light on the fruit of this countrie. + + 10. + 'But I have a loaf here in my lap, + Likewise a bottle of claret wine, + And now ere we go farther on, + We'll rest a while, and ye may dine.' + + 11. + When he had eaten and drunk his fill; + 'Lay down your head upon my knee,' + The lady sayd, 'ere we climb yon hill, + And I will show you fairlies three. + + 12. + 'O see not ye yon narrow road, + So thick beset wi' thorns and briers? + That is the path of righteousness, + Tho' after it but few enquires. + + 13. + 'And see not ye that braid braid road, + That lies across yon lillie leven? + That is the path of wickedness, + Tho' some call it the road to heaven. + + 14. + 'And see not ye that bonny road, + Which winds about the fernie brae? + That is the road to fair Elfland, + Where you and I this night maun gae. + + 15. + 'But, Thomas, ye maun hold your tongue, + Whatever you may hear or see, + For gin ae word you should chance to speak, + You will ne'er get back to your ain countrie.' + + 16. + He has gotten a coat of the even cloth, + And a pair of shoes of velvet green, + And till seven years were past and gone + True Thomas on earth was never seen. + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: 'tett,' lock or bunch of hair. + 7: 7 is 15 in the MS. + 8.2: 'garden': '_golden green_, if my copy is right.' --Child. + 11.4: 'fairlies,' marvels. + 13.2: 'lillie leven,' smooth lawn set with lilies. + 16.1: 'even cloth,' cloth with the nap worn off.] + + + + +THE QUEEN OF ELFAN'S NOURICE + + ++The Text.+--As printed in Sharpe's Ballad Book, from the Skene MS. +(No. 8). It is fragmentary--regrettably so, especially as stanzas 10-12 +belong to _Thomas Rymer_. + + ++The Story+ is the well-known one of the abduction of a young mother to +be the Queen of Elfland's nurse. Fairies, elves, water-sprites, and +nisses or brownies, have constantly required mortal assistance in the +nursing of fairy children. Gervase of Tilbury himself saw a woman stolen +away for this purpose, as she was washing clothes in the Rhone. + +The genuineness of this ballad, deficient as it is, is best proved by +its lyrical nature, which, as Child says, 'forces you to chant, and will +not be read.' + +'Elfan,' of course, is Elfland; 'nourice,' a nurse. + + +THE QUEEN OF ELFAN'S NOURICE + + 1. + 'I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low, + An' a cow low down in yon glen; + Lang, lang, will my young son greet + Or his mother bid him come ben. + + 2. + 'I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low, + An' a cow low down in yon fauld; + Lang, lang will my young son greet + Or his mither take him frae cauld. + + *** *** *** + + 3. + ' ... ... ... + ... ... ... + Waken, Queen of Elfan, + An' hear your nourice moan.' + + 4. + 'O moan ye for your meat, + Or moan ye for your fee, + Or moan ye for the ither bounties + That ladies are wont to gie?' + + 5. + 'I moan na for my meat, + Nor moan I for my fee, + Nor moan I for the ither bounties + That ladies are wont to gie. + + 6. + ' ... ... ... + ... ... ... + But I moan for my young son + I left in four nights auld. + + 7. + 'I moan na for my meat, + Nor yet for my fee, + But I mourn for Christen land, + It's there I fain would be.' + + 8. + 'O nurse my bairn, nourice,' she says, + 'Till he stan' at your knee, + An' ye's win hame to Christen land, + Whar fain it's ye wad be. + + 9. + 'O keep my bairn, nourice, + Till he gang by the hauld, + An' ye's win hame to your young son + Ye left in four nights auld.' + + *** *** *** + + 10. + 'O nourice lay your head + Upo' my knee: + See ye na that narrow road + Up by yon tree? + + 11. + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + That's the road the righteous goes, + And that's the road to heaven. + + 12. + 'An' see na ye that braid road, + Down by yon sunny fell? + Yon's the road the wicked gae, + An' that's the road to hell.' + + *** *** *** + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: 'ben,' within. + 9.2: _i.e._ till he can walk by holding on to things.] + + + + +ALLISON GROSS + + ++The Text+ is that of the Jamieson-Brown MS. + + ++The Story+ is one of the countless variations of the French 'Beauty and +the Beast.' A modern Greek tale narrates that a nereid, enamoured of a +youth, and by him scorned, turned him into a snake till he should find +another love as fair as she. + +The feature of this ballad is that the queen of the fairies should have +power to undo the evil done by a witch. + + +ALLISON GROSS + + 1. + O Allison Gross, that lives in yon tow'r, + The ugliest witch i' the north country, + Has trysted me ae day up till her bow'r, + An' monny fair speech she made to me. + + 2. + She stroaked my head, an' she kembed my hair, + An' she set me down saftly on her knee; + Says, 'Gin ye will be my lemman so true, + Sae monny braw things as I woud you gi'.' + + 3. + She show'd me a mantle o' red scarlet, + Wi' gouden flow'rs an' fringes fine; + Says, 'Gin ye will be my lemman sae true, + This goodly gift it sal be thine.' + + 4. + 'Awa', awa', ye ugly witch, + Haud far awa', an' lat me be; + I never will be your lemman sae true, + An' I wish I were out o' your company.' + + 5. + She neist brought a sark o' the saftest silk, + Well wrought wi' pearles about the ban'; + Says, 'Gin ye will be my ain true love, + This goodly gift you sal comman'.' + + 6. + She show'd me a cup o' the good red gold, + Well set wi' jewls sae fair to see; + Says, 'Gin you will be my lemman sae true, + This goodly gift I will you gi'.' + + 7. + 'Awa', awa', ye ugly witch, + Had far awa', and lat me be! + For I woudna ance kiss your ugly mouth + For a' the gifts that you coud gi'.' + + 8. + She's turn'd her right and roun' about, + An' thrice she blaw on a grass-green horn; + An' she sware by the meen and the stars abeen, + That she'd gar me rue the day I was born. + + 9. + Then out has she ta'en a silver wand, + An' she's turn'd her three times roun' and roun'; + She's mutter'd sich words till my strength it fail'd, + An' I fell down senceless upon the groun'. + + 10. + She's turn'd me into an ugly worm, + And gard me toddle about the tree; + An' ay, on ilka Saturday's night, + My sister Maisry came to me; + + 11. + Wi' silver bason and silver kemb, + To kemb my heady upon her knee; + But or I had kiss'd her ugly mouth, + I'd rather 'a' toddled about the tree. + + 12. + But as it fell out on last Hallow-even, + When the seely court was ridin' by, + The queen lighted down on a gowany bank, + Nae far frae the tree where I wont to lye. + + 13. + She took me up in her milk-white han', + An' she's stroak'd me three times o'er her knee; + She chang'd me again to my ain proper shape, + And I nae mair maun toddle about the tree. + + + [Annotations: + 5.1: 'sark,' shirt. + 12.2: 'the seely court,' _i.e._ the fairies' court. + 12.3: 'gowany,' daisied.] + + + + +THE LAILY WORM AND THE MACHREL OF THE SEA + + ++The Text+ of this mutilated ballad is taken from the Skene MS., where +it was written down from recitation in the North of Scotland about 1802. + + ++The Story+ is of a double transformation of a sister and brother by a +stepmother. Compare the story of _The Marriage of Sir Gawaine_ (First +Series, p. 108). _Allison Gross_ should be compared closely with this +ballad. The combing of hair seems to be a favourite method of expressing +affection, not only in these ballads, but also in Scandinavian folklore. +It is needless to take exception to the attribution either of hair to a +worm, or of knees to a machrel: though we may note that in one version +of _Dives and Lazarus_ Dives 'has a place prepared in hell to sit on a +serpent's knee.' However, it is probable that a part of the ballad, now +lost, stated that the machrel (whatever it may be) reassumed human shape +'every Saturday at noon.' + + +THE LAILY WORM AND THE MACHREL OF THE SEA + + 1. + 'I was but seven year auld + When my mither she did die; + My father married the ae warst woman + The warld did ever see. + + 2. + 'For she has made me the laily worm, + That lies at the fit o' the tree, + An' my sister Masery she's made + The machrel of the sea. + + 3. + 'An' every Saturday at noon + The machrel comes to me, + An' she takes my laily head + An' lays it on her knee, + She kaims it wi' a siller kaim, + An' washes 't in the sea. + + 4. + 'Seven knights hae I slain, + Sin I lay at the fit of the tree, + An' ye war na my ain father, + The eight ane ye should be.' + + 5. + 'Sing on your song, ye laily worm, + That ye did sing to me:' + 'I never sung that song but what + I would sing it to thee. + + 6. + 'I was but seven year auld, + When my mither she did die; + My father married the ae warst woman + The warld did ever see. + + 7. + 'For she changed me to the laily worm, + That lies at the fit o' the tree, + And my sister Masery + To the machrel of the sea. + + 8. + 'And every Saturday at noon + The machrel comes to me, + An' she takes my laily head + An' lays it on her knee, + An' kames it wi' a siller kame, + An' washes it i' the sea. + + 9. + 'Seven knights hae I slain + Sin I lay at the fit o' the tree; + An' ye war na my ain father, + The eighth ane ye shoud be.' + + 10. + He sent for his lady, + As fast as send could he: + 'Whar is my son that ye sent frae me, + And my daughter, Lady Masery?' + + 11. + 'Your son is at our king's court, + Serving for meat an' fee, + An' your daughter's at our queen's court, + ... ... ...' + + 12. + 'Ye lie, ye ill woman, + Sae loud as I hear ye lie; + My son's the laily worm, + That lies at the fit o' the tree, + And my daughter, Lady Masery, + Is the machrel of the sea!' + + 13. + She has tane a siller wan', + An' gi'en him strokes three, + And he has started up the bravest knight + That ever your eyes did see. + + 14. + She has ta'en a small horn, + An' loud an' shrill blew she, + An' a' the fish came her untill + But the proud machrel of the sea: + 'Ye shapeit me ance an unseemly shape, + An' ye's never mare shape me.' + + 15. + He has sent to the wood + For whins and for hawthorn, + An' he has ta'en that gay lady, + An' there he did her burn. + + + [Annotation: + 2.1 etc.: 'laily' = laidly, loathly.] + + + + +KEMP OWYNE + + ++The Text+ is that given (nearly _literatim_) by Buchan and Motherwell, +and also in the MSS. of the latter. + + ++The Story.+--This adventure of Owyne (Owain, 'the King's son Urien,' +Ywaine, etc.), with the subsequent transformation, has a parallel in an +Icelandic saga. Rehabilitation in human shape by means of a kiss is a +common tale in the Scandinavian area; occasionally three kisses are +necessary. + +A similar ballad, now lost, but re-written by the contributor, from +scraps of recitation by an old woman in Berwickshire, localises the +story of the fire-drake ('the laidly worm') near Bamborough in +Northumberland; and Kinloch said that the term 'Childe o' Wane' was +still applied by disconsolate damsels of Bamborough to any youth who +champions them. However, Mr. R. W. Clark of Bamborough, who has kindly +made inquiries for me, could find no survival of this use. + +The ballad is also called 'Kempion.' + + +KEMP OWYNE + + 1. + Her mother died when she was young, + Which gave her cause to make great moan; + Her father married the warst woman + That ever lived in Christendom. + + 2. + She served her with foot and hand, + In every thing that she could dee, + Till once, in an unlucky time, + She threw her in ower Craigy's sea. + + 3. + Says, 'Lie you there, dove Isabel, + And all my sorrows lie with thee; + Till Kemp Owyne come ower the sea, + And borrow you with kisses three, + Let all the warld do what they will, + Oh borrowed shall you never be!' + + 4. + Her breath grew strang, her hair grew lang, + And twisted thrice about the tree, + And all the people, far and near, + Thought that a savage beast was she. + + 5. + These news did come to Kemp Owyne, + Where he lived, far beyond the sea; + He hasted him to Craigy's sea, + And on the savage beast look'd he. + + 6. + Her breath was strang, her hair was lang, + And twisted was about the tree, + And with a swing she came about: + 'Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me. + + 7. + 'Here is a royal belt,' she cried, + 'That I have found in the green sea; + And while your body it is on, + Drawn shall your blood never be; + But if you touch me, tail or fin, + I vow my belt your death shall be.' + + 8. + He stepped in, gave her a kiss, + The royal belt he brought him wi'; + Her breath was strang, her hair was lang, + And twisted twice about the tree, + And with a swing she came about: + 'Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me. + + 9. + 'Here is a royal ring,' she said, + 'That I have found in the green sea; + And while your finger it is on, + Drawn shall your blood never be; + But if you touch me, tail or fin, + I swear my ring your death shall be.' + + 10. + He stepped in, gave her a kiss, + The royal ring he brought him wi'; + Her breath was strang, her hair was lang, + And twisted ance about the tree, + And with a swing she came about: + 'Come to Craigy's sea, and kiss with me. + + 11. + 'Here is a royal brand,' she said, + 'That I have found in the green sea; + And while your body it is on, + Drawn shall your blood never be; + But if you touch me, tail or fin, + I swear my brand your death shall be.' + + 12. + He stepped in, gave her a kiss, + The royal brand he brought him wi'; + Her breath was sweet, her hair grew short, + And twisted nane about the tree, + And smilingly she came about, + As fair a woman as fair could be. + + + [Annotations: + 3.3: 'Kemp' = champion, knight. Cp. 'Childe' in _Childe Maurice_, + etc. + 3.4: 'borrow,' ransom.] + + + + +WILLIE'S LADY + + ++The Text+ is from the lost Fraser-Tytler-Brown MS., this ballad luckily +having been transcribed before the MS. disappeared. Mrs. Brown recited +another and a fuller version to Jamieson. + + ++The Story.+--Willie's mother, a witch, displeased at her son's choice, +maliciously arrests by witchcraft the birth of Willie's son. Willie's +travailing wife sends him again and again to bribe the witch, who +refuses cup, steed, and girdle. Here our version makes such abrupt +transitions, that it will be well to explain what takes place. The Belly +Blind or Billie Blin (see _Young Bekie_, First Series, pp. 6, 7) advises +Willie to make a sham baby of wax, and invite his witch-mother to the +christening. Willie does so (in stanzas lost between our 33 and 34); the +witch, believing the wax-baby to be flesh and blood, betrays all her +craft by asking who has loosed the knots, ta'en out the kaims, ta'en +down the woodbine, etc., these being the magic rites by which she has +suspended birth. Willie instantly looses the knots and takes out the +kaims, and his wife presents him with a bonny young son. + +The story is common in Danish ballads, and occasional in Swedish. In the +classics, Juno (Hera) on two occasions delayed childbirth and cheated +Ilithyia, the sufferers being Latona and Alcmene. But the latest version +of the story is said to have occurred in Arran in the nineteenth +century. A young man, forsaking his sweetheart, married another maiden, +who when her time came suffered exceedingly. A packman who chanced to be +passing heard the tale and suspected the cause. Going to the discarded +sweetheart, he told her that her rival had given birth to a fine child; +thereupon she sprang up, pulled a large nail out of the beam, and called +to her mother, 'Muckle good your craft has done!' The labouring wife was +delivered forthwith. (See _The Folklore Record_, vol. ii. p. 117.) + + +WILLIE'S LADY + + 1. + Willie has taen him o'er the fame, + He's woo'd a wife and brought her hame. + + 2. + He's woo'd her for her yellow hair, + But his mother wrought her mickle care, + + 3. + And mickle dolour gard her dree, + For lighter she can never be. + + 4. + But in her bower she sits wi' pain, + And Willie mourns o'er her in vain. + + 5. + And to his mother he has gone, + That vile rank witch of vilest kind. + + 6. + He says: 'My ladie has a cup + Wi' gowd and silver set about. + + 7. + 'This goodlie gift shall be your ain, + And let her be lighter o' her young bairn.' + + 8. + 'Of her young bairn she'll ne'er be lighter, + Nor in her bower to shine the brighter. + + 9. + 'But she shall die and turn to clay, + And you shall wed another may.' + + 10. + 'Another may I'll never wed, + Another may I'll ne'er bring home.' + + 11. + But sighing says that weary wight, + 'I wish my life were at an end.' + + 12. + 'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again, + That vile rank witch of vilest kind. + + 13. + 'And say your ladie has a steed, + The like o' 'm's no in the lands of Leed. + + 14. + 'For he's golden shod before, + And he's golden shod behind. + + 15. + 'And at ilka tet of that horse's main + There's a golden chess and a bell ringing. + + 16. + 'This goodlie gift shall be your ain, + And let me be lighter of my young bairn.' + + 17. + 'O' her young bairn she'll ne'er be lighter, + Nor in her bower to shine the brighter. + + 18. + 'But she shall die and turn to clay, + And ye shall wed another may.' + + 19. + 'Another may I'll never wed, + Another may I'll neer bring hame.' + + 20. + But sighing said that weary wight, + 'I wish my life were at an end.' + + 21. + 'Ye doe [ye] unto your mother again, + That vile rank witch of vilest kind. + + 22. + 'And say your ladie has a girdle, + It's red gowd unto the middle. + + 23. + 'And ay at every silver hem + Hangs fifty silver bells and ten. + + 24. + 'That goodlie gift sall be her ain, + And let me be lighter of my young bairn.' + + 25. + 'O' her young bairn she's ne'er be lighter, + Nor in her bower to shine the brighter. + + 26. + 'But she shall die and turn to clay, + And you shall wed another may.' + + 27. + 'Another may I'll never wed, + Another may I'll ne'er bring hame.' + + 28. + But sighing says that weary wight, + 'I wish my life were at an end.' + + 29. + Then out and spake the Belly Blind; + He spake aye in good time. + + 30. + 'Ye doe ye to the market place, + And there ye buy a loaf o' wax. + + 31. + 'Ye shape it bairn and bairnly like, + And in twa glassen een ye pit; + + 32. + 'And bid her come to your boy's christening; + Then notice weel what she shall do. + + 33. + 'And do you stand a little forebye, + And listen weel what she shall say.' + + *** *** *** + + 34. + 'O wha has loosed the nine witch knots + That was amo' that ladie's locks? + + 35. + 'And wha has taen out the kaims of care + That hangs amo' that ladie's hair? + + 36. + 'And wha's taen down the bush o' woodbine + That hang atween her bower and mine? + + 37. + 'And wha has kill'd the master kid + That ran beneath that ladie's bed? + + 38. + 'And wha has loosed her left-foot shee, + And lotten that lady lighter be?' + + 39. + O Willie has loosed the nine witch knots + That was amo' that ladie's locks. + + 40. + And Willie's taen out the kaims o' care + That hang amo' that ladie's hair. + + 41. + And Willie's taen down the bush o' woodbine + That hang atween her bower and thine. + + 42. + And Willie has killed the master kid + That ran beneath that ladie's bed. + + 43. + And Willie has loosed her left-foot shee, + And letten his ladie lighter be. + + 44. + And now he's gotten a bonny young son, + And mickle grace be him upon. + + + [Annotations: + 19: 'I'll' is 'I' in both lines in the MS. + 24.1: 'sall' is Scott's emendation for _has_ in the MS.] + + + + +THE WEE WEE MAN + + ++The Text+ is that of Herd's MS. and his _Scots Songs_. Other versions +vary very slightly, and this is the oldest of them. + +There is a fourteenth-century MS. (in the Cotton collection) containing +a poem not unlike _The Wee Wee Man_; but there is no justification in +deriving the ballad from the poem, which may be found in Ritson's +_Ancient Songs_ (1829), i. p. 40. + +Scott incorporates the story with _The Young Tamlane_. + + +THE WEE WEE MAN + + 1. + As I was wa'king all alone, + Between a water and a wa', + And there I spy'd a wee wee man, + And he was the least that ere I saw. + + 2. + His legs were scarce a shathmont's length, + And thick and thimber was his thigh; + Between his brows there was a span, + And between his shoulders there was three. + + 3. + He took up a meikle stane, + And he flang 't as far as I could see; + Though I had been a Wallace wight, + I couldna liften't to my knee. + + 4. + 'O wee wee man, but thou be strang! + O tell me where thy dwelling be?' + 'My dwelling's down at yon bonny bower; + O will you go with me and see?' + + 5. + On we lap, and awa' we rade, + Till we came to yon bonny green; + We lighted down for to bait our horse, + And out there came a lady fine. + + 6. + Four and twenty at her back, + And they were a' clad out in green; + Though the King of Scotland had been there, + The warst o' them might hae been his queen. + + 7. + On we lap, and awa' we rade, + Till we came to yon bonny ha', + Whare the roof was o' the beaten gould, + And the floor was o' the cristal a'. + + 8. + When we came to the stair-foot, + Ladies were dancing, jimp and sma', + But in the twinkling of an eye, + My wee wee man was clean awa'. + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: 'ere,' _i.e._ e'er. + 2.1: 'shathmont,' a span. + 2.2: 'thimber,' gross.] + + + + +COSPATRICK + + ++The Text+ is that of Scott's _Minstrelsy_ (1802). It was 'taken down +from the recitation of a lady' (his mother's sister, Miss Christian +Rutherford), and collated with a copy in the Tytler-Brown MS. The ballad +is also called _Gil Brenton_, _Lord Dingwall_, _Bangwell_, _Bengwill_, +or _Brangwill_, _Bothwell_, etc. + + ++The Story+ is a great favourite, not only in Scandinavian ballads, but +also in all northern literature. The magical agency of bed, blankets, +sheets, and sword, is elsewhere extended to a chair, a stepping-stone by +the bedside (see the _Boy and the Mantle_, First Series, p. 119), or the +Billie Blin (see _Young Bekie_, First Series, pp. 6, 7, and _Willie's +Lady_, p. 19). The Norwegian tale of Aase and the Prince is known to +English readers in Dasent's _Annie the Goosegirl_. The Prince is +possessed of a stepping-stone by his bedside, which answers his question +night and morning, and enables him to detect the supposititious bride. +See also Jamieson's translation of _Ingefred and Gudrune_, in +_Illustrations of Northern Antiquities_, p. 340. + + +COSPATRICK + + 1. + Cospatrick has sent o'er the faem, + Cospatrick brought his ladye hame. + + 2. + And fourscore ships have come her wi', + The ladye by the grenewood tree. + + 3. + There were twal' and twal' wi' baken bread, + And twal' and twal' wi' gowd sae reid: + + 4. + And twal' and twal' wi' bouted flour, + And twal' and twal' wi' the paramour. + + 5. + Sweet Willy was a widow's son, + And at her stirrup he did run. + + 6. + And she was clad in the finest pall, + But aye she let the tears down fall. + + 7. + 'O is your saddle set awrye? + Or rides your steed for you owre high? + + 8. + 'Or are you mourning in your tide + That you suld be Cospatrick's bride?' + + 9. + 'I am not mourning at this tide + That I suld be Cospatrick's bride; + + 10. + 'But I am sorrowing in my mood + That I suld leave my mother good. + + 11. + 'But, gentle boy, come tell to me, + What is the custom of thy countrye?' + + 12. + 'The custom thereof, my dame,' he says, + 'Will ill a gentle laydye please. + + 13. + 'Seven king's daughters has our lord wedded, + And seven king's daughters has our lord bedded; + + 14. + 'But he's cutted their breasts frae their breast-bane, + And sent them mourning hame again. + + 15. + 'Yet, gin you're sure that you're a maid, + Ye may gae safely to his bed; + + 16. + 'But gif o' that ye be na sure, + Then hire some damsell o' your bour.' + + 17. + The ladye's call'd her bour-maiden, + That waiting was into her train. + + 18. + 'Five thousand merks I will gie thee, + To sleep this night with my lord for me.' + + 19. + When bells were rung, and mass was sayne, + And a' men unto bed were gane, + + 20. + Cospatrick and the bonny maid, + Into ae chamber they were laid. + + 21. + 'Now speak to me, blankets, and speak to me, bed, + And speak, thou sheet, inchanted web; + + 22. + 'And speak up, my bonny brown sword, that winna lie, + Is this a true maiden that lies by me?' + + 23. + 'It is not a maid that you hae wedded, + But it is a maid that you hae bedded; + + 24. + 'It is a liel maiden that lies by thee, + But not the maiden that it should be.' + + 25. + O wrathfully he left the bed, + And wrathfully his claiths on did; + + 26. + And he has taen him thro' the ha', + And on his mother he did ca'. + + 27. + 'I am the most unhappy man, + That ever was in Christen land! + + 28. + 'I courted a maiden, meik and mild, + And I hae gotten naething but a woman wi' child.' + + 29. + 'O stay, my son, into this ha', + And sport ye wi' your merrymen a'; + + 30. + 'And I will to the secret bour, + To see how it fares wi' your paramour.' + + 31. + The carline she was stark and sture, + She aff the hinges dang the dure. + + 32. + 'O is your bairn to laird or loun? + Or is it to your father's groom?' + + 33. + 'O hear me, mother, on my knee, + Till my sad story I tell to thee: + + 34. + 'O we were sisters, sisters seven, + We were the fairest under heaven. + + 35. + 'It fell on a summer's afternoon, + When a' our toilsome task was done, + + 36. + 'We cast the kavils us amang, + To see which suld to the grene-wood gang. + + 37. + 'Ohon! alas, for I was youngest, + And aye my wierd it was the hardest! + + 38. + 'The kavil it on me did fa', + Whilk was the cause of a' my woe. + + 39. + 'For to the grene-wood I maun gae, + To pu' the red rose and the slae; + + 40. + 'To pu' the red rose and the thyme, + To deck my mother's bour and mine. + + 41. + 'I hadna pu'd a flower but ane, + When by there came a gallant hende, + + 42. + 'Wi' high-coll'd hose and laigh-coll'd shoon, + And he seem'd to be some king's son. + + 43. + 'And be I maid, or be I nae, + He kept me there till the close o' day. + + 44. + 'And be I maid, or be I nane, + He kept me there till the day was done. + + 45. + 'He gae me a lock o' his yellow hair, + And bade me keep it ever mair. + + 46. + 'He gae me a carknet o' bonny beads, + And bade me keep it against my needs. + + 47. + 'He gae to me a gay gold ring, + And bade me keep it abune a' thing.' + + 48. + 'What did ye wi' the tokens rare + That ye gat frae that gallant there?' + + 49. + 'O bring that coffer unto me, + And a' the tokens ye sall see.' + + 50. + 'Now stay, daughter, your bour within, + While I gae parley wi' my son.' + + 51. + O she has taen her thro' the ha', + And on her son began to ca': + + 52. + 'What did you wi' the bonny beads, + I bade ye keep against your needs? + + 53. + 'What did you wi' the gay gold ring, + I bade you keep abune a' thing?' + + 54. + 'I gae them to a ladye gay, + I met in grene-wood on a day. + + 55. + 'But I wad gie a' my halls and tours, + I had that ladye within my bours; + + 56. + 'But I wad gie my very life, + I had that ladye to my wife.' + + 57. + 'Now keep, my son, your ha's and tours; + Ye have that bright burd in your bours; + + 58. + 'And keep, my son, your very life; + Ye have that ladye to your wife.' + + 59. + Now, or a month was come and gane, + The ladye bore a bonny son; + + 60. + And 'twas weel written on his breast-bane, + 'Cospatrick is my father's name.' + + 61. + 'O rowe my ladye in satin and silk, + And wash my son in the morning milk.' + + + [Annotations: + 18.1: A mark was two-thirds of a pound. + 31.1: 'stark and sture,' sturdy and strong. + 36.1: 'kavils' = kevels, lots. + 37.2: 'wierd,' fate. + 41.2: 'hende' (? = heynde, person). + 42.1: 'high-coll'd ... laigh-coll'd,' high-cut ... low-cut. + 46.1: 'carknet,' necklace. + 57.2: 'burd,' maiden. + 61.1: 'rowe,' roll, wrap.] + + + + +YOUNG AKIN + + ++The Text+ is taken from Buchan's _Ballads of the North of Scotland_, +and, like nearly all Buchan's versions, exhibits traces of vulgar +remoulding. This ballad in particular has lost much of the original +features. Kinloch called his version _Hynde Etin_, Allingham his +compilation _Etin the Forester_. + + ++The Story+ is given in a far finer style in romantic Scandinavian +ballads. Prior translated two of them, _The Maid and the Dwarf-King_, +and _Agnes and the Merman_, both Danish. The Norse ballads on this +subject, which may still be heard sung, are exceptionally beautiful. +Child says, 'They should make an Englishman's heart wring for his loss.' + +In the present version we may with some confidence attribute to Buchan +the stanzas from 48 to the end, as well as 15 and 16. The preference is +given to Buchan's text merely because it retains features lost in +Kinloch's version. + + +YOUNG AKIN + + 1. + Lady Margaret sits in her bower door, + Sewing at her silken seam; + She heard a note in Elmond's wood, + And wish'd she there had been. + + 2. + She loot the seam fa' frae her side, + And the needle to her tae, + And she is on to Elmond-wood + As fast as she coud gae. + + 3. + She hadna pu'd a nut, a nut, + Nor broken a branch but ane, + Till by it came a young hind chiel, + Says, 'Lady, lat alane. + + 4. + 'O why pu' ye the nut, the nut, + Or why brake ye the tree? + For I am forester o' this wood: + Ye shoud spier leave at me.' + + 5. + 'I'll ask leave at no living man, + Nor yet will I at thee; + My father is king o'er a' this realm, + This wood belongs to me.' + + 6. + She hadna pu'd a nut, a nut, + Nor broken a branch but three, + Till by it came him Young Akin, + And gard her lat them be. + + 7. + The highest tree in Elmond's wood, + He's pu'd it by the reet, + And he has built for her a bower, + Near by a hallow seat. + + 8. + He's built a bower, made it secure + Wi' carbuncle and stane; + Tho' travellers were never sae nigh, + Appearance it had nane. + + 9. + He's kept her there in Elmond's wood + For six lang years and one, + Till six pretty sons to him she bear, + And the seventh she's brought home. + + 10. + It fell ance upon a day, + This guid lord went from home, + And he is to the hunting gane, + Took wi' him his eldest son. + + 11. + And when they were on a guid way, + Wi' slowly pace did walk, + The boy's heart being something wae, + He thus began to talk. + + 12. + 'A question I woud ask, father, + Gin ye woudna angry be;' + 'Say on, say on, my bonny boy, + Ye'se nae be quarrell'd by me.' + + 13. + 'I see my mither's cheeks aye weet, + I never can see them dry; + And I wonder what aileth my mither, + To mourn continually.' + + 14. + 'Your mither was a king's daughter, + Sprung frae a high degree, + And she might hae wed some worthy prince + Had she nae been stown by me. + + 15. + 'I was her father's cupbearer, + Just at that fatal time; + I catch'd her on a misty night, + When summer was in prime. + + 16. + 'My luve to her was most sincere, + Her luve was great for me, + But when she hardships doth endure, + Her folly she does see.' + + 17. + 'I'll shoot the buntin' o' the bush, + The linnet o' the tree, + And bring them to my dear mither, + See if she'll merrier be.' + + 18. + It fell upo' another day, + This guid lord he thought lang, + And he is to the hunting gane, + Took wi' him his dog and gun. + + 19. + Wi' bow and arrow by his side, + He's aff, single, alane, + And left his seven children to stay + Wi' their mither at hame. + + 20. + 'O I will tell to you, mither, + Gin ye wadna angry be:' + 'Speak on, speak on, my little wee boy, + Ye'se nae be quarrell'd by me.' + + 21. + 'As we came frae the hynd-hunting, + We heard fine music ring:' + 'My blessings on you, my bonny boy, + I wish I'd been there my lane.' + + 22. + He's ta'en his mither by the hand, + His six brithers also, + And they are on thro' Elmond's wood + As fast as they coud go. + + 23. + They wistna weel where they were gaen, + Wi' the stratlins o' their feet; + They wistna weel where they were gaen, + Till at her father's yate. + + 24. + 'I hae nae money in my pocket, + But royal rings hae three; + I'll gie them you, my little young son, + And ye'll walk there for me. + + 25. + 'Ye'll gie the first to the proud porter, + And he will lat you in; + Ye'll gie the next to the butler-boy, + And he will show you ben. + + 26. + 'Ye'll gie the third to the minstrel + That plays before the King; + He'll play success to the bonny boy + Came thro' the wood him lane.' + + 27. + He ga'e the first to the proud porter, + And he open'd an' let him in; + He ga'e the next to the butler-boy, + And he has shown him ben; + + 28. + He ga'e the third to the minstrel + That play'd before the King; + And he play'd success to the bonny boy + Came thro' the wood him lane. + + 29. + Now when he came before the King, + Fell low down on his knee; + The King he turned round about, + And the saut tear blinded his e'e. + + 30. + 'Win up, win up, my bonny boy, + Gang frae my companie; + Ye look sae like my dear daughter, + My heart will birst in three.' + + 31. + 'If I look like your dear daughter, + A wonder it is none; + If I look like your dear daughter, + I am her eldest son.' + + 32. + 'Will ye tell me, ye little wee boy, + Where may my Margaret be?' + 'She's just now standing at your yates, + And my six brithers her wi'.' + + 33. + 'O where are all my porter-boys + That I pay meat and fee, + To open my yates baith wide and braid? + Let her come in to me.' + + 34. + When she came in before the King, + Fell low down on her knee; + 'Win up, win up, my daughter dear, + This day ye'll dine wi' me.' + + 35. + 'Ae bit I canno eat, father, + Nor ae drop can I drink, + Till I see my mither and sister dear, + For lang for them I think!' + + 36. + When she came before the queen, + Fell low down on her knee; + 'Win up, win up, my daughter dear, + This day ye'se dine wi' me.' + + 37. + 'Ae bit I canno eat, mither, + Nor ae drop can I drink, + Until I see my dear sister, + For lang for her I think.' + + 38. + When that these two sisters met, + She hail'd her courteouslie; + 'Come ben, come ben, my sister dear, + This day ye'se dine wi' me.' + + 39. + 'Ae bit I canno eat, sister, + Nor ae drop can I drink, + Until I see my dear husband, + For lang for him I think.' + + 40. + 'O where are all my rangers bold + That I pay meat and fee, + To search the forest far an' wide, + And bring Akin to me?' + + 41. + Out it speaks the little wee boy: + 'Na, na, this maunna be; + Without ye grant a free pardon, + I hope ye'll nae him see!' + + 42. + 'O here I grant a free pardon, + Well seal'd by my own han'; + Ye may make search for Young Akin, + As soon as ever you can.' + + 43. + They search'd the country wide and braid, + The forests far and near, + And found him into Elmond's wood, + Tearing his yellow hair. + + 44. + 'Win up, win up now, Young Akin, + Win up and boun wi' me; + We're messengers come from the court, + The king wants you to see.' + + 45. + 'O lat him take frae me my head, + Or hang me on a tree; + For since I've lost my dear lady, + Life's no pleasure to me.' + + 46. + 'Your head will nae be touch'd, Akin, + Nor hang'd upon a tree; + Your lady's in her father's court, + And all he wants is thee.' + + 47. + When he came in before the King, + Fell low down on his knee: + 'Win up, win up now, Young Akin, + This day ye'se dine wi' me.' + + 48. + But as they were at dinner set, + The boy asked a boun: + 'I wish we were in the good church, + For to get christendoun. + + 49. + 'We hae lived in guid green wood + This seven years and ane; + But a' this time, since e'er I mind, + Was never a church within.' + + 50. + 'Your asking's nae sae great, my boy, + But granted it shall be: + This day to guid church ye shall gang, + And your mither shall gang you wi'.' + + 51. + When she came unto the guid church, + She at the door did stan'; + She was sae sair sunk down wi' shame, + She couldna come farer ben. + + 52. + Then out it speaks the parish priest, + And a sweet smile ga'e he: + 'Come ben, come ben, my lily-flower, + Present your babes to me.' + + 53. + Charles, Vincent, Sam and Dick, + And likewise James and John; + They call'd the eldest Young Akin, + Which was his father's name. + + 54. + Then they staid in the royal court, + And liv'd wi' mirth and glee, + And when her father was deceas'd, + Heir of the crown was she. + + + [Annotations: + 4.4: 'spier,' ask. + 14.4: 'stown,' stolen. + 21.4: 'my lane,' by myself. Cp. 26.4. + 23.2: 'stratlins,' strayings. + 44.2: 'boun,' go.] + + + + +THE UNQUIET GRAVE + + ++The Text+ is that communicated to the _Folklore Record_ (vol. i. p. 60) +by Miss Charlotte Latham, as it was written down from recitation by a +girl in Sussex (1868). + + ++The Story+ is so simple, and so reminiscent of other ballads, that we +must suppose this version to be but a fragment of some forgotten ballad. +Its chief interest lies in the setting forth of a common popular belief, +namely, that excessive grief for the dead 'will not let them sleep.' Cp. +Tibullus, Lib. 1. Eleg. 1, lines 67, 68:-- + + 'Tu Manes ne laede meos: sed parce solutis + Crinibus, et teneris, Delia, parce genis.' + +The same belief is recorded in Germany, Scandinavia, India, Persia, and +ancient Greece, as well as in England and Scotland (see Sir Walter +Scott, _Red-gauntlet_, letter xi., note 2). + +There is a version of this ballad beginning-- + + 'Proud Boreas makes a hideous noise.' + +It is almost needless to add that this is from Buchan's manuscripts. + + +THE UNQUIET GRAVE + + 1. + 'The wind doth blow today, my love, + And a few small drops of rain; + I never had but one true love, + In cold grave she was lain. + + 2. + 'I'll do as much for my true love + As any young man may; + I'll sit and mourn all at her grave + For a twelvemonth and a day.' + + 3. + The twelvemonth and a day being up, + The dead began to speak: + 'Oh who sits weeping on my grave, + And will not let me sleep?' + + 4. + ''Tis I, my love, sits on your grave, + And will not let you sleep; + For I crave one kiss of your clay-cold lips, + And that is all I seek.' + + 5. + 'You crave one kiss of my clay-cold lips; + But my breath smells earthy strong; + If you have one kiss of my clay-cold lips, + Your time will not be long. + + 6. + ''Tis down in yonder garden green, + Love, where we used to walk; + The finest flower that ere was seen + Is withered to a stalk. + + 7. + 'The stalk is withered dry, my love, + So will our hearts decay; + So make yourself content, my love, + Till God calls you away.' + + + [Annotations: + 5.3,4: Cp. _Clerk Sanders_, 30.3,4 + 6.3: 'ere' = e'er.] + + + + +CLERK COLVEN + + ++The Text.+--This ballad was one of two transcribed from the now lost +Tytler-Brown MS., and the transcript is given here. A considerable +portion of the story is lost between stanzas 6 and 7. + + ++The Story+ in its full form is found in a German poem of the twelfth or +thirteenth century (_Der Ritter von Stauffenberg_) as well as in many +Scandinavian ballads. + +In the German tale, the fairy bound the knight to marry no one; on that +condition she would come to him whenever he wished, if he were alone, +and would bestow endless gifts upon him: if ever he did marry, he would +die within three days. Eventually he was forced to marry, and died as he +had been warned. + +In seventy Scandinavian ballads, the story remains much the same. The +hero's name is Oluf or Ole, or some modification of this, of which +'Colvill,' or 'Colven,' as we have it here, is the English equivalent. +Oluf, riding out, is accosted by elves or dwarfs, and one of them asks +him to dance with her. If he will, a gift is offered; if he will not, +a threat is made. Gifts and threats naturally vary in different +versions. He attempts to escape, is struck or stabbed fatally, and rides +home and dies. His bride is for some time kept in ignorance of his death +by various shifts, but at last discovers the truth, and her heart +breaks. Oluf's mother dies also. + +It will be seen from this account how much is lost in our ballad. +But it is evident that Clerk Colven's lady has heard of his previous +acquaintance with the mermaiden. This point survives only in four Faeroe +ballads out of the seventy Scandinavian versions. + +The story is also found in French, Breton, Spanish, etc. + + +CLERK COLVEN + + 1. + Clark Colven and his gay ladie, + As they walked to yon garden green, + A belt about her middle gimp, + Which cost Clark Colven crowns fifteen: + + 2. + 'O hearken weel now, my good lord, + O hearken weel to what I say; + When ye gang to the wall o' Stream, + O gang nae neer the well-fared may.' + + 3. + 'O haud your tongue, my gay ladie, + Tak nae sic care o' me; + For I nae saw a fair woman + I like so well as thee.' + + 4. + He mounted on his berry-brown steed, + And merry, merry rade he on, + Till he came to the wall o' Stream, + And there he saw the mermaiden. + + 5. + 'Ye wash, ye wash, ye bonny may, + And ay's ye wash your sark o' silk': + 'It's a' for you, ye gentle knight, + My skin is whiter than the milk.' + + 6. + He's ta'en her by the milk-white hand, + He's ta'en her by the sleeve sae green, + And he's forgotten his gay ladie, + And away with the fair maiden. + + *** *** *** + + 7. + 'Ohon, alas!' says Clark Colven, + 'And aye sae sair's I mean my head!' + And merrily leugh the mermaiden, + 'O win on till you be dead. + + 8. + 'But out ye tak your little pen-knife, + And frae my sark ye shear a gare; + Row that about your lovely head, + And the pain ye'll never feel nae mair.' + + 9. + Out he has ta'en his little pen-knife, + And frae her sark he's shorn a gare, + Rowed that about his lovely head, + But the pain increased mair and mair. + + 10. + 'Ohon, alas!' says Clark Colven, + 'An' aye sae sair's I mean my head!' + And merrily laugh'd the mermaiden, + 'It will ay be war till ye be dead.' + + 11. + Then out he drew his trusty blade, + And thought wi' it to be her dead, + But she's become a fish again, + And merrily sprang into the fleed. + + 12. + He's mounted on his berry-brown steed, + And dowy, dowy rade he home, + And heavily, heavily lighted down + When to his ladie's bower-door he came. + + 13. + 'Oh, mither, mither, mak my bed, + And, gentle ladie, lay me down; + Oh, brither, brither, unbend my bow, + 'Twill never be bent by me again.' + + 14. + His mither she has made his bed, + His gentle ladie laid him down, + His brither he has unbent his bow, + 'Twas never bent by him again. + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: 'gimp,' slender. + 2.4: 'well-fared may,' well-favoured maiden. + 7.3: 'leugh,' laughed. + 8.2: 'gare,' strip. See First Series, Introduction, p. 1. + 8.3: 'Row,' roll, bind. + 10.4: 'war,' worse. + 11.4: 'fleed,' flood. + 12.2: 'dowy,' sad.] + + + + +TAM LIN + + + =all' e: toi pro:tista leo:n genet' e:ugeneios, + autar epeita drako:n kai pardalis e:de megas sus; + gigneto d' hugron hudo:r kai dendreon hupsipete:lon.= + + _Odyssey_, IV. 456-8. + ++The Text+ here given is from Johnson's _Museum_, communicated by Burns. +Scott's version (1802), _The Young Tamlane_, contained certain verses, +'obtained from a gentleman residing near Langholm, which are said to be +very ancient, though the language is somewhat of a modern cast.' --'Of a +grossly modern invention,' says Child, 'and as unlike popular verse as +anything can be.' Here is a specimen:-- + + 'They sing, inspired with love and joy, + Like skylarks in the air; + Of solid sense, or thought that's grave, + You'll find no traces there.' + +A copy in the Glenriddell MSS. corresponds very closely with the one +here printed, doubtless owing to Burns's friendship with Riddell. Both +probably were derived from one common source. + + ++The Story.+--Although the ballad as it stands is purely Scottish, its +main feature, the retransformation of Tam Lin, is found in popular +mythology even before Homer's time. + +A Cretan ballad, taken down about 1820-30, relates that a young peasant, +falling in love with a nereid, was advised by an old woman to seize his +beloved by the hair just before cock-crow, and hold her fast, whatever +transformation she might undergo. He did so; the nymph became in turn a +dog, a snake, a camel, and fire. In spite of all, he retained his hold; +and at the next crowing of the cock she regained her beauty, and +accompanied him home. After a year, in which she spoke no word, she bore +a son. The peasant again applied to the old woman for a cure, and was +advised to tell his wife that if she would not speak, he would throw the +baby into the oven. On his carrying out the old woman's suggestion the +nereid cried out, 'Let go my child, dog!' tore her baby from him, and +vanished. + +This tale was current among the Cretan peasantry in 1820. Two thousand +years before, Apollodorus had told much the same story of Peleus and +Thetis (_Bibliotheca_, iii. 13). The chief difference is that it was +Thetis who placed her son on the fire, to make him immortal, and Peleus +who cried out. _The Tayl of the yong Tamlene_ is mentioned in the +_Complaint of Scotland_ (1549). + +Carterhaugh is about a mile from Selkirk, at the confluence of the +Ettrick and the Yarrow. + +The significance of 34.3, 'Then throw me into well water,' is lost in +the present version, by the position of the line _after_ the 'burning +gleed,' as it seems the reciter regarded the well-water merely as a +means of extinguishing the gleed. But the immersion in water has a +meaning far deeper and more interesting than that. It is a widespread +and ancient belief in folklore that immersion in water (or sometimes +milk) is indispensable to the recovery of human shape, after existence +in a supernatural shape, or _vice versa_. The version in the Glenriddell +MSS. rightly gives it as the _last_ direction to Janet, to be adopted +when the transformations are at an end:-- + + 'First dip me in a stand o' milk, + And then a stand o' water.' + +For the beginning of _Tam Lin_, compare the meeting of Akin and Lady +Margaret in Elmond-wood in _Young Akin_. + + +TAM LIN + + 1. + O I forbid you, maidens a', + That wear gowd on your hair, + To come or gae by Carterhaugh, + For young Tam Lin is there. + + 2. + There's nane that gaes by Carterhaugh + But they leave him a wad, + Either their rings, or green mantles, + Or else their maidenhead. + + 3. + Janet has kilted her green kirtle + A little aboon her knee, + And she has broded her yellow hair + A little aboon her bree, + And she's awa' to Carterhaugh, + As fast as she can hie. + + 4. + When she came to Carterhaugh + Tam Lin was at the well, + And there she fand his steed standing, + But away was himsel'. + + 5. + She had na pu'd a double rose, + A rose but only twa, + Till up then started young Tam Lin, + Says, 'Lady, thou's pu' nae mae. + + 6. + 'Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, + And why breaks thou the wand? + Or why comes thou to Carterhaugh + Withoutten my command?' + + 7. + 'Carterhaugh, it is my ain, + My daddie gave it me; + I'll come and gang by Carterhaugh, + And ask nae leave at thee.' + ... ... ... + + 8. + Janet has kilted her green kirtle + A little aboon her knee, + And she has snooded her yellow hair + A little aboon her bree, + And she is to her father's ha', + As fast as she can hie. + + 9. + Four and twenty ladies fair + Were playing at the ba', + And out then cam' the fair Janet, + Ance the flower amang them a'. + + 10. + Four and twenty ladies fair + Were playing at the chess, + And out then cam' the fair Janet, + As green as onie glass. + + 11. + Out then spak an auld grey knight, + Lay o'er the castle wa', + And says, 'Alas, fair Janet, for thee + But we'll be blamed a'.' + + 12. + 'Haud your tongue, ye auld fac'd knight, + Some ill death may ye die! + Father my bairn on whom I will, + I'll father nane on thee.' + + 13. + Out then spak her father dear, + And he spak meek and mild; + 'And ever alas, sweet Janet,' he says, + 'I think thou gaes wi' child.' + + 14. + 'If that I gae wi' child, father, + Mysel' maun bear the blame; + There's ne'er a laird about your ha' + Shall get the bairn's name. + + 15. + 'If my love were an earthly knight, + As he's an elfin grey, + I wadna gie my ain true-love + For nae lord that ye hae. + + 16. + 'The steed that my true-love rides on + Is lighter than the wind; + Wi' siller he is shod before, + Wi' burning gowd behind.' + + 17. + Janet has kilted her green kirtle + A little aboon her knee, + And she has snooded her yellow hair + A little aboon her bree, + And she's awa' to Carterhaugh, + As fast as she can hie. + + 18. + When she cam' to Carterhaugh, + Tam Lin was at the well, + And there she fand his steed standing, + But away was himsel'. + + 19. + She had na pu'd a double rose, + A rose but only twa, + Till up then started young Tam Lin, + Says, 'Lady, thou pu's nae mae. + + 20. + 'Why pu's thou the rose, Janet, + Amang the groves sae green, + And a' to kill the bonie babe + That we gat us between?' + + 21. + 'O tell me, tell me, Tam Lin,' she says, + 'For's sake that died on tree, + If e'er ye was in holy chapel, + Or christendom did see?' + + 22. + 'Roxbrugh he was my grandfather, + Took me with him to bide, + And ance it fell upon a day + That wae did me betide. + + 23. + 'And ance it fell upon a day, + A cauld day and a snell, + When we were frae the hunting come, + That frae my horse I fell; + The Queen o' Fairies she caught me, + In yon green hill to dwell. + + 24. + 'And pleasant is the fairy land, + But, an eerie tale to tell, + Ay at the end of seven years + We pay a tiend to hell; + I am sae fair and fu' o' flesh, + I'm fear'd it be mysel'. + + 25. + 'But the night is Halloween, lady, + The morn is Hallowday; + Then win me, win me, an ye will, + For weel I wat ye may. + + 26. + 'Just at the mirk and midnight hour + The fairy folk will ride, + And they that wad their true-love win, + At Miles Cross they maun bide.' + + 27. + 'But how shall I thee ken, Tam Lin, + Or how my true-love know, + Amang sae mony unco knights + The like I never saw?' + + 28. + 'O first let pass the black, lady, + And syne let pass the brown, + But quickly run to the milk-white steed, + Pu' ye his rider down. + + 29. + 'For I'll ride on the milk-white steed, + And ay nearest the town; + Because I was an earthly knight + They gie me that renown. + + 30. + 'My right hand will be glov'd, lady, + My left hand will be bare, + Cockt up shall my bonnet be, + And kaim'd down shall my hair; + And thae's the takens I gie thee, + Nae doubt I will be there. + + 31. + 'They'll turn me in your arms, lady, + Into an esk and adder; + But hold me fast, and fear me not, + I am your bairn's father. + + 32. + 'They'll turn me to a bear sae grim, + And then a lion bold; + But hold me fast, and fear me not, + As ye shall love your child. + + 33. + 'Again they'll turn me in your arms + To a red het gaud of airn; + But hold me fast, and fear me not, + I'll do to you nae harm. + + 34. + 'And last they'll turn me in your arms + Into the burning gleed; + Then throw me into well water, + O throw me in wi' speed. + + 35. + 'And then I'll be your ain true-love, + I'll turn a naked knight; + Then cover me wi' your green mantle, + And cover me out o' sight.' + + 36. + Gloomy, gloomy was the night, + And eerie was the way, + As fair Jenny in her green mantle + To Miles Cross she did gae. + + 37. + About the middle o' the night + She heard the bridles ring; + This lady was as glad at that + As any earthly thing. + + 38. + First she let the black pass by, + And syne she let the brown; + But quickly she ran to the milk-white steed, + And pu'd the rider down. + + 39. + Sae weel she minded whae he did say, + And young Tarn Lin did win; + Syne cover'd him wi' her green mantle, + As blythe's a bird in spring. + + 40. + Out then spak the Queen o' Fairies, + Out of a bush o' broom: + 'Them that has gotten young Tam Lin + Has gotten a stately groom.' + + 41. + Out then spak the Queen o' Fairies, + And an angry woman was she: + 'Shame betide her ill-far'd face, + And an ill death may she die, + For she's ta'en awa' the bonniest knight + In a' my companie. + + 42. + 'But had I kend, Tam Lin,' she says, + 'What now this night I see, + I wad hae ta'en out thy twa grey een, + And put in twa een o' tree.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.2: 'wad,' forfeit. + 3.4: 'bree,' brow. + 8.3: 'snooded,' tied with a fillet. + 10.4: 'glass': perhaps a mistake for 'grass.' + 23.2: 'snell,' keen. + 24.4: 'tiend,' tithe. + 31.2: 'esk,' newt. + 33.2: 'gaud,' bar. + 34.2: 'gleed,' a glowing coal. + 42.4: 'tree,' wood.] + + + + +THE CLERK'S TWA SONS O' OWSENFORD, and THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL + + +These two ballads must be considered together, as the last six verses +(18-23) of _The Clerk's Twa Sons_, as here given, are a variant of _The +Wife of Usher's Well_. + + ++Texts.+--_The Clerk's Twa Sons_ is taken from Kinloch's MSS., in the +handwriting of James Chambers, as it was sung to his grandmother by an +old woman. + +_The Wife of Usher's Well_ is from Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish +Border_, and however incomplete, may well stand alone. + + ++The Story+ has a fairly close parallel in the well-known German ballad, +'Das Schloss in Oesterreich'; and a ballad found both in Spain and Italy +has resemblances to each. But in these two ballads, especially in _The +Wife of Usher's Well_, the interest lies rather in the impressiveness of +the verses than in the story. + + +THE CLERK'S TWA SONS O' OWSENFORD + + 1. + O I will sing to you a sang, + But oh my heart is sair! + The clerk's twa sons in Owsenford + Has to learn some unco lair. + + 2. + They hadna been in fair Parish + A twelvemonth an' a day, + Till the clerk's twa sons o' Owsenford + Wi' the mayor's twa daughters lay. + + 3. + O word's gaen to the mighty mayor, + As he sail'd on the sea, + That the clerk's twa sons o' Owsenford + Wi' his twa daughters lay. + + 4. + 'If they hae lain wi' my twa daughters, + Meg and Marjorie, + The morn, or I taste meat or drink, + They shall be hangit hie.' + + 5. + O word's gaen to the clerk himself, + As he sat drinkin' wine, + That his twa sons in fair Parish + Were bound in prison strong. + + 6. + Then up and spak the clerk's ladye, + And she spak pow'rfully: + 'O tak with ye a purse of gold, + Or take with ye three, + And if ye canna get William, + Bring Andrew hame to me.' + + 7. + 'O lye ye here for owsen, dear sons, + Or lie ye here for kye? + Or what is it that ye lie for, + Sae sair bound as ye lie?' + + 8. + 'We lie not here for owsen, dear father, + Nor yet lie here for kye; + But it's for a little o' dear-bought love + Sae sair bound as we lye.' + + 9. + O he's gane to the mighty mayor + And he spake powerfully: + + 'Will ye grant me my twa sons' lives, + Either for gold or fee? + Or will ye be sae gude a man + As grant them baith to me?' + + 10. + 'I'll no' grant ye yere twa sons' lives, + Neither for gold or fee, + Nor will I be sae gude a man + As gie them back to thee; + Before the morn at twelve o'clock + Ye'll see them hangit hie.' + + 11. + Up and spak his twa daughters, + And they spak pow'rfully: + 'Will ye grant us our twa loves' lives, + Either for gold or fee? + Or will ye be sae gude a man + As grant them baith to me?' + + 12. + 'I 'll no' grant ye yere twa loves' lives, + Neither for gold or fee, + Nor will I be sae gude a man + As grant their lives to thee; + Before the morn at twelve o'clock + Ye'll see them hangit hie.' + + 13. + O he's ta'en out these proper youths, + And hang'd them on a tree, + And he's bidden the clerk o' Owsenford + Gang hame to his ladie. + + 14. + His lady sits on yon castle-wa', + Beholding dale and doun, + An' there she saw her ain gude lord + Come walkin' to the toun. + + 15. + 'Ye're welcome, welcome, my ain gude lord, + Ye're welcome hame to me; + But where away are my twa sons? + Ye should hae brought them wi' ye.' + + 16. + 'It's I've putten them to a deeper lair, + An' to a higher schule; + Yere ain twa sons 'ill no' be here + Till the hallow days o' Yule.' + + 17. + 'O sorrow, sorrow, come mak' my bed, + An' dool come lay me doon! + For I'll neither eat nor drink, + Nor set a fit on ground.' + + 18. + The hallow days of Yule are come, + The nights are lang and dark; + An' in an' cam' her ain twa sons, + Wi' their hats made o' the bark. + + 19. + 'O eat an' drink, my merry men a', + The better shall ye fare, + For my twa sons the[y] are come hame + To me for evermair.' + + 20. + She has gaen an' made their bed, + An' she's made it saft an' fine, + An' she's happit them wi' her gay mantel, + Because they were her ain. + + 21. + O the young cock crew i' the merry Linkem, + An' the wild fowl chirp'd for day; + The aulder to the younger did say, + 'Dear brother, we maun away.' + + 22. + 'Lie still, lie still, a little wee while, + Lie still but if we may; + For gin my mother miss us away, + She'll gae mad or it be day.' + + 23. + O it's they've ta'en up their mother's mantel, + And they've hang'd it on the pin: + 'O lang may ye hing, my mother's mantel, + Or ye hap us again!' + + + [Annotations: + 1.4: 'lair,' lesson. Cp. 16.1. + 7.1 etc.: 'owsen,' oxen. + 17.2: 'dool,' grief. + 18: Here begins _The Wife of Usher's Well_ in a variant. + 20.3: 'happit,' wrapped. + 21.1: 'Linkem,' perhaps a stock ballad-locality, like 'Lin,' etc. + See First Series, Introduction, p. 1.] + + + + +THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL + + 1. + There lived a wife at Usher's Well, + And a wealthy wife was she; + She had three stout and stalwart sons, + And sent them o'er the sea. + + 2. + They hadna been a week from her, + A week but barely ane, + When word came to the carline wife + That her three sons were gane. + + 3. + They hadna been a week from her, + A week but barely three, + When word came to the carlin wife, + That her sons she'd never see. + + 4. + 'I wish the wind may never cease, + Nor fishes in the flood, + Till my three sons come hame to me, + In earthly flesh and blood.' + + 5. + It fell about the Martinmass, + When nights are lang and mirk, + The carlin wife's three sons came hame, + And their hats were o' the birk. + + 6. + It neither grew in syke nor ditch, + Nor yet in ony sheugh; + But at the gates o' Paradise + That birk grew fair eneugh. + ... ... ... + + 7. + 'Blow up the fire, my maidens, + Bring water from the well; + For a' my house shall feast this night, + Since my three sons are well.' + + 8. + And she has made to them a bed, + She's made it large and wide, + And she's ta'en her mantle her about, + Sat down at the bedside. + ... ... ... + + 9. + Up then crew the red, red cock, + And up and crew the gray; + The eldest to the youngest said, + ''Tis time we were away.' + + 10. + The cock he hadna craw'd but once, + And clapp'd his wings at a', + Whan the youngest to the eldest said, + 'Brother, we must awa'. + + 11. + 'The cock doth craw, the day doth daw, + The channerin' worm doth chide; + Gin we be mist out o' our place, + A sair pain we maun bide. + + 12. + 'Fare-ye-weel, my mother dear! + Fareweel to barn and byre! + And fare-ye-weel, the bonny lass + That kindles my mother's fire!' + ... ... ... + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: 'carline,' old woman. + 5.4: 'birk,' birch. + 6.1: 'syke,' marsh. + 6.2: 'sheugh,' ditch. + 11.2: 'channerin',' fretting.] + + + + +THE GREAT SILKIE OF SULE SKERRIE + + ++The Text+ was communicated to the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by +Captain F. W. L. Thomas, who took it down from the dictation of an old +woman of Shetland. + + ++The Story+ is concerned with the Finn-myth. The Finns live in the +depths of the sea. 'Their transfiguration into seals seems to be more a +kind of deception they practise. For the males are described as most +daring boatmen, with powerful sweep of the oar, who chase foreign +vessels on the sea.... By means of a "skin" which they possess, the men +and the women among them are able to change themselves into seals. But +on shore, after having taken off the wrappage, they are, and behave +like, real human beings.... Many a Finn woman has got into the power of +a Shetlander, and borne children to him; but if the Finn woman succeeded +in re-obtaining her sea-skin, or seal-skin, she escaped across the +water' (Karl Blind in the _Contemporary Review_, September 1881, pp. +399-400). The same writer, in quoting a verse of this ballad, says, +'Shool Skerry means Seal's Isle.' The whole article is of great +interest. + +'G. S. L.,' the author of _Shetland Fireside Tales, or the Hermit of +Trosswickness_ (1877), remarks: 'The belief that witches and wizards +came from the coast of Norway disguised as seals was entertained by many +of the Shetland peasantry even so late as the beginning of the present +century.' He goes on to prove the supernatural character of seals by +relating an exploit of his own, in which a gun pointed at a seal refused +to go off. + +Sule Skerrie is a lonely islet to the north-east of Cape Wrath, about as +far therefrom as from the Shetland Isles. + +Another version of this ballad, unknown to Child, is given in the +Appendix. + + +THE GREAT SILKIE OF SULE SKERRIE + + 1. + An eartly nourris sits and sings, + And aye she sings, 'Ba, lily wean! + Little ken I my bairnis father, + Far less the land that he staps in.' + + 2. + Then ane arose at her bed-fit. + An' a grumly guest I'm sure was he: + 'Here am I, thy bairnis father, + Although that I be not comelie. + + 3. + 'I am a man, upo' the lan', + An' I am a silkie in the sea; + And when I'm far and far frae lan', + My dwelling is in Sule Skerrie.' + + 4. + 'It was na weel,' quo' the maiden fair, + 'It was na weel, indeed,' quo' she, + 'That the Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie + Suld hae come and aught a bairn to me.' + + 5. + Now he has ta'en a purse of goud, + And he has pat it upo' her knee, + Sayin', 'Gie to me my little young son, + An' tak thee up thy nourris-fee. + + 6. + 'An' it sall come to pass on a simmer's day, + When the sin shines het on evera stane, + That I will tak my little young son, + An' teach him for to swim the faem. + + 7. + 'An' thu sall marry a proud gunner, + An' a proud gunner I'm sure he'll be, + An' the very first schot that ere he schoots, + He'll schoot baith my young son and me.' + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'nourris,' nurse, nursing-mother. + 2.2: 'grumly,' muddy, dreggy. --Jamieson. + 3.2: 'silkie,' seal. + 4.4: 'aught,' have.] + + + + +CLERK SANDERS + + ++The Text+ is given in full from Herd's MSS., where it concludes with a +version of _Sweet William's Ghost_; and the last three stanzas, 42-44, +are from Scott's later version of the ballad (1833) from recitation. +Child divides the ballad as follows:-- _Clerk Sanders_, 1-26 of the +present version; _Sweet William's Ghost_, 27-41. Scott made 'one or two +conjectural emendations in the arrangement of the stanzas.' + + ++The Story+ of this admirable ballad in its various forms is paralleled +in one or two of its incidents by a similar collection of Scandinavian +ballads. Jamieson introduced into his version certain questions and +answers (of the prevaricating type found in a baser form in _Our +Goodman_) which are professedly of Scandinavian origin. + + +CLERK SANDERS + + 1. + Clark Sanders and May Margret + Walkt ower yon gravel'd green; + And sad and heavy was the love, + I wat, it fell this twa between. + + 2. + 'A bed, a bed,' Clark Sanders said, + 'A bed, a bed, for you and I:' + 'Fye no, fye no,' the lady said, + 'Until the day we married be. + + 3. + 'For in it will come my seven brothers, + And a' their torches burning bright; + They'll say, We hae but ae sister, + And here her lying wi' a knight.' + + 4. + 'Ye'l take the sourde fray my scabbord, + And lowly, lowly lift the gin, + And you may say, your oth to save, + You never let Clerk Sanders in. + + 5. + 'Yele take a napken in your hand, + And ye'l ty up baith your een, + An' ye may say, your oth to save, + That ye saw na Sandy sen late yestreen. + + 6. + 'Yele take me in your armes twa, + Yele carrey me ben into your bed, + And ye may say, your oth to save, + In your bower-floor I never tread.' + + 7. + She has ta'en the sourde fray his scabbord. + And lowly, lowly lifted the gin; + She was to swear, her oth to save, + She never let Clerk Sanders in. + + 8. + She has tain a napkin in her hand, + And she ty'd up baith her een; + She was to swear, her oth to save, + She saw na him sene late yestreen. + + 9. + She has ta'en him in her armes twa, + And carried him ben into her bed; + She was to swear, her oth to save, + He never in her bower-floor tread. + + 10. + In and came her seven brothers, + And all their torches burning bright; + Says thay, We hae but ae sister, + And see there her lying wi' a knight. + + 11. + Out and speaks the first of them, + 'A wat they hay been lovers dear;' + Out and speaks the next of them, + 'They hay been in love this many a year.' + + 12. + Out an' speaks the third of them, + 'It wear great sin this twa to twain;' + Out an' speaks the fourth of them, + 'It wear a sin to kill a sleeping man.' + + 13. + Out an' speaks the fifth of them, + 'A wat they'll near be twain'd by me;' + Out an' speaks the sixt of them, + 'We'l tak our leave an' gae our way.' + + 14. + Out an' speaks the seventh of them, + 'Altho' there wear no a man but me, + I'se bear the brand into my hand + Shall quickly gar Clark Sanders die.' + + 15. + Out he has ta'en a bright long brand, + And he has striped it throw the straw, + And throw and throw Clarke Sanders' body + A wat he has gard cold iron gae. + + 16. + Sanders he started, an' Margret she lapt + Intill his arms where she lay; + And well and wellsom was the night, + A wat it was between these twa. + + 17. + And they lay still, and sleeped sound, + Untill the day began to daw; + And kindly till him she did say, + 'It is time, trew-love, ye wear awa'.' + + 18. + They lay still, and sleeped sound, + Untill the sun began to shine; + She lookt between her and the wa', + And dull and heavy was his een. + + 19. + She thought it had been a loathsome sweat, + A wat it had fallen this twa between; + But it was the blood of his fair body, + A wat his life days wair na lang. + + 20. + 'O Sanders, I'le do for your sake + What other ladys would na thoule; + When seven years is come and gone, + There's near a shoe go on my sole. + + 21. + 'O Sanders, I'le do for your sake + What other ladies would think mare; + When seven years is come and gone, + There's nere a comb go in my hair. + + 22. + 'O Sanders, I'le do for your sake, + What other ladies would think lack; + When seven years is come and gone, + I'le wear nought but dowy black.' + + 23. + The bells gaed clinking throw the towne, + To carry the dead corps to the clay; + An' sighing says her May Margret, + 'A wat I bide a doulfou' day.' + + 24. + In an' come her father dear, + Stout steping on the floor; + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 25. + 'Hold your toung, my doughter dear, + Let a' your mourning a-bee; + I'le carry the dead corps to the clay, + An' I'le come back an' comfort thee.' + + 26. + 'Comfort well your seven sons; + For comforted will I never bee; + For it was neither lord nor loune + That was in bower last night wi' mee.' + + 27. + Whan bells war rung, an' mass was sung, + A wat a' man to bed were gone, + Clark Sanders came to Margret's window, + With mony a sad sigh and groan. + + 28. + 'Are ye sleeping, Margret?' he says, + 'Or are ye waking presentlie? + Give me my faith and trouthe again, + A wat, trew-love, I gied to thee.' + + 29. + 'Your faith and trouth ye's never get, + Nor our trew love shall never twain, + Till ye come with me in my bower, + And kiss me both cheek and chin.' + + 30. + 'My mouth it is full cold, Margret, + It has the smell now of the ground; + And if I kiss thy comely mouth, + Thy life days will not be long. + + 31. + 'Cocks are crowing a merry mid-larf, + I wat the wild fule boded day; + Gie me my faith and trouthe again. + And let me fare me on my way.' + + 32. + 'Thy faith and trouth thou shall na get, + And our trew love shall never twin, + Till ye tell me what comes of women + A wat that dy's in strong traveling?' + + 33. + 'Their beds are made in the heavens high, + Down at the foot of our good Lord's knee, + Well set about wi' gillyflowers: + A wat sweet company for to see. + + 34. + 'O, cocks are crowing a merry mid-larf, + A wat the wilde foule boded day; + The salms of Heaven will be sung, + And ere now I'le be misst away.' + + 35. + Up she has tain a bright long wand, + And she has straked her trouth thereon; + She has given [it] him out at the shot-window, + Wi' many a sad sigh and heavy groan. + + 36. + 'I thank you, Margret; I thank you, Margret, + And I thank you heartilie; + Gin ever the dead come for the quick, + Be sure, Margret, I'll come again for thee.' + + 37. + It's hose an' shoon an' gound alane, + She clame the wall and follow'd him, + Until she came to a green forest, + On this she lost the sight of him. + + 38. + 'Is there any room at your head, Sanders? + Is there any room at your feet? + Or any room at your twa sides, + Whare fain, fain woud I sleep?' + + 39. + 'Thair is na room at my head, Margret, + Thair is na room at my feet; + There is room at my twa sides, + For ladys for to sleep. + + 40. + 'Cold meal is my covering owre, + But an' my winding sheet; + My bed it is full low, I say, + Down among the hongerey worms I sleep. + + 41. + 'Cold meal is my covering owre, + But an' my winding sheet; + The dew it falls na sooner down + Then ay it is full weet. + + 42. + 'But plait a wand o' bonny birk, + And lay it on my breast; + And shed a tear upon my grave, + And wish my saul gude rest. + + 43. + 'And fair Margret, and rare Margret, + And Margret o' veritie, + Gin e'er ye love another man, + Ne'er love him as ye did me.' + + 44. + Then up and crew the milk-white cock, + And up and crew the grey; + The lover vanish'd in the air, + And she gaed weeping away. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'gravel'd green'; probably corrupt: perhaps a green with + gravelled walks. + 1.4: 'I wat'; cp. 11.2, 13.2, 15.4, etc. + 4.2: 'gin,' altered in the MS. to 'pin.' In either case, it ... + part of the door-latch. + 6.2: 'ben,' within. + 12.2: 'twain,' separate. + 15: Cp. _The Bonny Birdy_, 15.1-4 (First Series, p. 28). + 15.2: 'striped,' whetted. See First Series, Introduction, + pp. xlix-l. + 16.3: 'well and wellsom,' probably a corruption of 'wae and + waesome,' sad and woful. + 20.2: 'thoule,' endure. + 22.2: 'lack,' discredit. + 22.4: 'dowy,' mournful. + 30.3,4: Cp. _The Unquiet Grave_, 5.3,4. + 31.1: 'mid-larf,' probably corrupt: changed by Scott to + 'midnight.' The meaning is unknown. + 35.3: 'shot-window,' a window which opens and shuts. See First + Series, Introduction, p. 1. + 40.1: 'meal,' mould, earth.] + + + + +YOUNG HUNTING + + ++The Text+ is given from two copies in Herd's MSS. as collated by Child, +with the exception of two lines, 9.3,4, which are taken from a third and +shorter copy in Herd's MSS., printed by him in the _Scottish Songs_. +Scott's ballad, _Earl Richard_, is described by him as made up from the +above-mentioned copies of Herd, with some trivial alterations adopted +from tradition--a totally inadequate account of wholesale alterations. +Scott also gives a similar ballad in _Lord William_. + + ++The Story.+--Young Hunting, a king's son, tells a former mistress that +he has a new sweetheart whom he loves thrice as well. The lady conceals +her anger, plies him with wine, and slays him in his drunken sleep. Her +deed unluckily is overseen by a bonny bird, whom she attempts to coax +into captivity, but fails. She dresses Young Hunting for riding, and +throws him into the Clyde. The king his father asks for him. She swears +by corn (see First Series, _Glasgerion_, p. 1) that she has not seen him +since yesterday at noon. The king's divers search for him in vain, until +the bonny bird reminds them of the method of finding a drowned corpse by +the means of candles. The lady still denies her guilt, and accuses her +maid 'Catheren,' but the bonfire refuses to consume the innocent +Catheren. When the real culprit is put in, she burns like hoky-gren. + +The discovery of a drowned body by candles is a recognised piece of +folklore. Usually the candle is stuck in a loaf of bread or on a cork, +and set afloat in the river; sometimes a hole is cut in a loaf of bread +and mercury poured in to weight it; even a chip of wood is used. The +superstition still survives. The most rational explanation offered is +that as eddies in rapid streams form deep pools, in which a body might +easily be caught, so a floating substance indicates the place by being +caught in the centre of the eddy. + +The failure of the fire to burn an innocent maid is also, of course, +a well-known incident. + + +YOUNG HUNTING + + 1. + 'O Lady, rock never your young son young + One hour longer for me, + For I have a sweetheart in Garlick's Wells + I love thrice better than thee. + + 2. + 'The very sols of my love's feet + Is whiter then thy face:' + 'But nevertheless na, Young Hunting, + Ye'l stay wi' me all night.' + + 3. + She has birl'd in him Young Hunting + The good ale and the beer, + Till he was as fou drunken + As any wild-wood steer. + + 4. + She has birl'd in him Young Hunting + The good ale and the wine, + Till he was as fou drunken + As any wild-wood swine. + + 5. + Up she has tain him Young Hunting, + And she has had him to her bed, + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 6. + And she has minded her on a little penknife, + That hangs low down by her gare, + And she has gin him Young Hunting + A deep wound and a sare. + + 7. + Out an' spake the bonny bird, + That flew abon her head: + 'Lady, keep well thy green clothing + Fra that good lord's blood.' + + 8. + 'O better I'll keep my green clothing + Fra that good lord's blood, + Nor thou can keep thy flattering toung, + That flatters in thy head. + + 9. + 'Light down, light down, my bonny bird, + Light down upon my hand, + And ye sail hae a cage o' the gowd + Where ye hae but the wand. + + 10. + 'O siller, O siller shall be thy hire, + An' goud shall be thy fee, + An' every month into the year + Thy cage shall changed be.' + + 11. + 'I winna light down, I shanna light down, + I winna light on thy hand; + For soon, soon wad ye do to me + As ye done to Young Hunting.' + + 12. + She has booted and spir'd him Young Hunting + As he had been gan to ride, + A hunting-horn about his neck, + An' the sharp sourd by his side; + And she has had him to yon wan water, + For a' man calls it Clyde. + + 13. + The deepest pot intill it a' + She has puten Young Hunting in; + A green truff upon his breast, + To hold that good lord down. + + 14. + It fell once upon a day + The king was going to ride, + And he sent for him Young Hunting, + To ride on his right side. + + 15. + She has turn'd her right and round about, + She sware now by the corn: + 'I saw na thy son, Young Hunting, + Sen yesterday at morn.' + + 16. + She has turn'd her right and round about, + She sware now by the moon: + 'I saw na thy son, Young Hunting, + Sen yesterday at noon. + + 17. + 'It fears me sair in Clyde Water + That he is drown'd therein:' + O they ha' sent for the king's duckers + To duck for Young Hunting. + + 18. + They ducked in at the tae water-bank, + They ducked out at the tither: + 'We'll duck no more for Young Hunting + All tho' he wear our brother.' + + 19. + Out an' spake the bonny bird, + That flew abon their heads: + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 20. + 'O he's na drown'd in Clyde Water, + He is slain and put therein; + The lady that lives in yon castil + Slew him and put him in. + + 21. + 'Leave aff your ducking on the day, + And duck upon the night; + Whear ever that sakeless knight lys slain, + The candels will shine bright.' + + 22. + Thay left off their ducking o' the day, + And ducked upon the night, + And where that sakeless knight lay slain, + The candles shone full bright. + + 23. + The deepest pot intill it a' + Thay got Young Hunting in; + A green turff upon his brest, + To hold that good lord down. + + 24. + O thay hae sent aff men to the wood + To hew down baith thorn an' fern, + That they might get a great bonefire + To burn that lady in. + 'Put na the wyte on me,' she says, + 'It was her May Catheren.' + + 25. + Whan thay had tane her May Catheren, + In the bonefire set her in, + It wad na take upon her cheeks, + Nor take upon her chin, + Nor yet upon her yallow hair, + To healle the deadly sin. + + 26. + Out they hae tain her May Catheren + And they hay put that lady in; + O it took upon her cheek, her cheek, + An' it took upon her chin, + An' it took on her fair body, + She burnt like hoky-gren. + + + [Annotations: + 3.1: 'birl'd,' poured; 'him,' _i.e._ for him. + 4.4: See First Series, _Brown Robin_, 7.4; _Fause Footrage_, 16.4; + and Introduction, p. li. + 6.2: 'gare,' part of the dress. See First Series, Introduction, + p. 1. + 8.3: 'flattering,' wagging. + 9.4: 'wand,' wood, wicker. + 13.1: 'pot,' pot-hole: a hole scooped by the action of the stream + in the rock-bed of a river. + 13.3: 'truff' = turf. + 17.3: 'duckers,' divers. + 21.3: 'sakeless,' innocent. + 24.5: 'wyte,' blame. + 24.6: 'May,' maid. + 26.6: 'hoky-gren'; 'gren' is a bough or twig; 'hoakie,' according + to Jamieson, is a fire that has been covered up with cinders. + 'Hoky-gren,' therefore, is perhaps a kind of charcoal. Scott + substitutes 'hollin green,' green holly.] + + + + +THE THREE RAVENS + +and + +THE TWA CORBIES + + ++The Texts+ of these two variations on the same theme are taken from +T. Ravenscroft's _Melismata_, 1611, and Scott's _Minstrelsy_, 1803, +respectively. There are several other versions of the Scots ballad, +while Motherwell prints _The Three Ravens_, changing only the burden. + +Chappell (_Popular Music of the Olden Time_) says of the English version +that he has been 'favored with a variety of copies of it, written down +from memory; and all differing in some respects, both as to words and +tune, but with sufficient resemblance to prove a similar origin.' +Consciously or not, the ballad, as set by him to its traditional tune, +is to be sung without the threefold repetition shown by Ravenscroft, +thus compressing two verses of the ballad into each repetition of the +tune, and halving the length of the song. + + +THE THREE RAVENS + + 1. + There were three rauens sat on a tree, + _Downe a downe, hay down, hay downe_ + There were three rauens sat on a tree, + _With a downe_ + There were three rauens sat on a tree, + They were as blacke as they might be. + _With a downe derrie, derrie, derrie, downe, downe._ + + 2. + The one of them said to his mate, + 'Where shall we our breakefast take?' + + 3. + 'Downe in yonder greene field, + There lies a knight slain vnder his shield. + + 4. + 'His hounds they lie downe at his feete, + So well they can their master keepe, + + 5. + 'His haukes they flie so eagerly, + There's no fowle dare him come nie.' + + 6. + Downe there comes a fallow doe, + As great with yong as she might goe. + + 7. + She lift vp his bloudy hed, + And kist his wounds that were so red. + + 8. + She got him vp vpon her backe, + And carried him to earthen lake. + + 9. + She buried him before the prime, + She was dead her selfe ere euen-song time. + + 10. + God send euery gentleman + Such haukes, such hounds, and such a leman. + + + [Annotations: + 9.1: 'prime,' the first hour of the day.] + + + + +THE TWA CORBIES + + 1. + As I was walking all alane, + I heard twa corbies making a mane, + The tane unto the t'other say, + 'Where sall we gang and dine to-day?' + + 2. + 'In behint yon auld fail dyke, + I wot there lies a new slain knight; + And nae body kens that he lies there, + But his hawk, his hound, and lady fair. + + 3. + 'His hound is to the hunting gane, + His hawk to fetch the wild-fowl hame, + His lady's ta'en another mate, + So we may mak' our dinner sweet. + + 4. + 'Ye'll sit on his white hause bane, + And I'll pike out his bonny blue een: + Wi' ae lock o' his gowden hair, + We'll theek our nest when it grows bare. + + 5. + 'Mony a one for him makes mane, + But nane sall ken whare he is gane: + O'er his white banes, when they are bare, + The wind sall blaw for evermair.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.1: 'fail dyke,' turf wall. + 4.1: 'hause-bane,' neck-bone. + 4.4: 'theek,' thatch.] + + + + +YOUNG BENJIE + + ++The Text+ is given from Scott's _Minstrelsy_ (1803). He remarks, 'The +ballad is given from tradition.' No. 29 in the Abbotsford MS., 'Scotch +Ballads, Materials for Border Minstrelsy,' is _Young Benjie_ (or Boonjie +as there written) in thirteen stanzas, headed 'From Jean Scott,' and +written in William Laidlaw's hand. All of this except the first stanza +is transferred, with or without changes, to Scott's ballad, which is +nearly twice as long. + + ++The Story+ of this ballad, simple in itself, introduces to us the +elaborate question of the 'lyke-wake,' or the practice of watching +through the night by the side of a corpse. More about this will be found +under _The Lyke-Wake Dirge_, and in the Appendix at the end of this +volume. Here it will suffice to quote Sir Walter Scott's introduction:-- + +'In this ballad the reader will find traces of a singular superstition, +not yet altogether discredited in the wilder parts of Scotland. The +lykewake, or watching a dead body, in itself a melancholy office, is +rendered, in the idea of the assistants, more dismally awful, by the +mysterious horrors of superstition. In the interval betwixt death and +interment, the disembodied spirit is supposed to hover around its mortal +habitation, and, if provoked by certain rites, retains the power of +communicating, through its organs, the cause of its dissolution. Such +enquiries, however, are always dangerous, and never to be resorted to +unless the deceased is suspected to have suffered _foul play_, as it is +called.... One of the most potent ceremonies in the charm, for causing +the dead body to speak, is setting the door ajar, or half open. On this +account, the peasants of Scotland sedulously avoid leaving the door ajar +while a corpse lies in the house. The door must either be left wide open +or quite shut; but the first is always preferred, on account of the +exercise of hospitality usual on such occasions. The attendants must be +likewise careful never to leave the corpse for a moment alone, or, if it +is left alone, to avoid, with a degree of superstitious horror, the +first sight of it.' --(Ed. 1803, vol. iii. pp. 251-2.) + + +YOUNG BENJIE + + 1. + Of a' the maids o' fair Scotland, + The fairest was Marjorie; + And young Benjie was her ae true love, + And a dear true-love was he. + + 2. + And wow! but they were lovers dear, + And loved fu' constantlie; + But ay the mair when they fell out, + The sairer was their plea. + + 3. + And they hae quarrelled on a day, + Till Marjorie's heart grew wae, + And she said she'd chuse another luve. + And let young Benjie gae. + + 4. + And he was stout, and proud hearted, + And thought o't bitterlie, + And he's gaen by the wan moon-light, + To meet his Marjorie. + + 5. + 'O open, open, my true love! + O open, and let me in!' + 'I dare na open, young Benjie, + My three brothers are within. + + 6. + 'Ye lied, ye lied, my bonny burd, + Sae loud's I hear ye lie; + As I came by the Lowden banks, + They bade gude e'en to me. + + 7. + 'But fare ye weel, my ae fause love, + That I hae loved sae lang! + It sets ye chuse another love, + And let young Benjie gang.' + + 8. + Then Marjorie turned her round about, + The tear blinding her ee, + 'I darena, darena let thee in, + But I'll come down to thee.' + + 9. + Then saft she smiled, and said to him, + 'O what ill hae I done?' + He took her in his armis twa, + And threw her o'er the linn. + + 10. + The stream was strang, the maid was stout, + And laith laith to be dang, + But, ere she wan the Lowden banks, + Her fair colour was wan. + + 11. + Then up bespak her eldest brother, + 'O see na ye what I see?' + And out then spak her second brother, + 'It's our sister Marjorie!' + + 12. + Out then spak her eldest brother, + 'O how shall we her ken?' + And out then spak her youngest brother, + 'There's a honey mark on her chin.' + + 13. + Then they've ta'en up the comely corpse, + And laid it on the grund: + 'O wha has killed our ae sister, + And how can he be found? + + 14. + 'The night it is her low lykewake, + The morn her burial day, + And we maun watch at mirk midnight, + And hear what she will say.' + + 15. + Wi' doors ajar, and candle-light, + And torches burning clear, + The streikit corpse, till still midnight, + They waked, but naething hear. + + 16. + About the middle o' the night, + The cocks began to craw, + And at the dead hour o' the night, + The corpse began to thraw. + + 17. + 'O wha has done the wrang, sister, + Or dared the deadly sin? + Wha was sae stout, and feared nae dout, + As thraw ye o'er the linn?' + + 18. + 'Young Benjie was the first ae man, + I laid my love upon; + He was sae stout and proud-hearted, + He threw me o'er the linn.' + + 19. + 'Sall we young Benjie head, sister, + Sall we young Benjie hang, + Or sall we pike out his twa gray een, + And punish him ere he gang?' + + 20. + 'Ye mauna Benjie head, brothers, + Ye mauna Benjie hang, + But ye maun pike out his twa gray een, + And punish him ere he gang. + + 21. + 'Tie a green gravat round his neck, + And lead him out and in, + And the best ae servant about your house, + To wait young Benjie on. + + 22. + 'And ay, at every seven years' end, + Ye'll tak him to the linn; + For that's the penance he maun drie, + To scug his deadly sin.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.4: 'plea,' quarrel. + 7.3: 'sets,' befits. + 9.4: 'linn,' stream. + 10.3: 'dang,' overcome. + 15.3: 'streikit,' stretched out. + 15.4: 'wake,' watch. + 16.4: 'thraw,' twist. + 22.4: 'scug,' expiate.] + + + + +THE LYKE-WAKE DIRGE + + ++The Text+ is given _verbatim et literatim_ from John Aubrey's MS. of +his _Remains of Gentilisme & Judaisme_ (1686-7) in the Lansdowne MSS., +No. 231, folio 114 _recto_ and _verso_. This text has often been printed +before (see Appendix), but always with errors. The only change made here +is the placing of Aubrey's marginal notes among the footnotes: the +spelling is Aubrey's spelling. The present version was obtained by +Aubrey in 1686 from an informant whose father had heard it sung sixty +years previously. + +Sir Walter Scott's text, better known than Aubrey's, presents very few +variations, the chief being 'sleete' for 'fleet' in 1.3 (see below). +This would seem to point to the fact that Scott obtained his version +from a manuscript, and confused the antique '[s]' (= s) with 'f.' +A collation, incomplete and inexact, of the two texts is given by T. F. +Henderson in his edition of the _Minstrelsy_ (1902), vol. iii. pp. +170-2. + + ++The Story.+--This dirge, of course, is not a ballad in the true sense +of the word. But it is concerned with myths so widespread and ancient, +that as much could be written about the dirge as almost any one of the +ballads proper. I have added an Appendix at the end of this volume, to +which those interested in the subject may refer. For the present, the +following account may suffice. + +Ritson found an illustration of this dirge in a manuscript letter, +written by one signing himself 'H. Tr.' to Sir Thomas Chaloner, in the +Cotton MSS. (Julius, F. vi., fols. 453-462). The date approximately is +the end of the sixteenth century (Sir Thomas Chaloner the elder, +1521-1565; the younger, 1561-1615). The letter is concerned with +antiquities in Durham and Yorkshire, especially near Guisborough, an +estate of the Chaloner family. The sentence referring to the Lyke-Wake +Dirge was printed by Scott, to whom it was communicated by Ritson's +executor after his death. It is here given as re-transcribed from the +manuscript (f. 461 _verso_). + +'When any dieth, certaine women singe a songe to the dead body, +recytinge the iorney that the partie deceased must goe, and they are of +beleife (such is their fondnesse) that once in their liues yt is good to +giue a payre of newe shoes to a poore man; forasmuch as after this life +they are to pass barefoote through a greate launde full of thornes & +furzen, excepte by the meryte of the Almes aforesaid they have redeemed +their forfeyte; for at the edge of the launde an aulde man shall meete +them with the same shoes that were giuen by the partie when he was +liuinge, and after he hath shodde them he dismisseth them to goe through +thicke and thin without scratch or scalle.' + +The myth of Hell-shoon (Norse, _helsko_) appears under various guises in +many folklores. (See Appendix.) + +Sir Walter Scott, in printing 'sleete' in 1.3, said: 'The word _sleet_, +in the chorus,[1] seems to be corrupted from _selt_, or salt; a quantity +of which, in compliance with a popular superstition, is frequently +placed on the breast of a corpse.' It is true that a superstition to +this effect does exist: but 'fleet' is doubtless the right reading. +Aubrey glosses it as 'water'; but Murray has shown (_New English +Dictionary, s.v._), by three quotations from wills dated between 1533 +and 1570, that 'fire and flet' is an expression meaning simply 'fire and +house-room.' 'Flet,' in short, is our modern 'flat' in an unspecialised +and uncorrupted form. + + [Footnote 1: Scott repeats the first stanza at the end of his + version.] + + +THE LYKE-WAKE DIRGE + +(Lansdowne MS., 231, fol. 114 _recto_.) + + 1. + This ean night, this ean night, + eve[r]y night and awle: + Fire and Fleet and Candle-light + and Christ recieve thy Sawle. + + 2. + When thou from hence doest pass away + every night and awle + To Whinny-moor thou comest at last + and Christ recieve thy [thy silly poor] Sawle. + + 3. + If ever thou gave either hosen or shun + every night and awle + Sitt thee downe and putt them on + and Christ recieve thy Sawle. + + 4. + But if hosen nor shoon thou never gave nean + every night &c: + The Whinnes shall prick thee to the bare beane + and Christ recieve thy Sawle. + + 5. + From Whinny-moor that thou mayst pass + every night &c: + To Brig o' Dread thou comest at last + and Christ &c: + [fol. 114 _verso_] + no brader than a thread. + + 6. + From Brig of Dread that thou mayst pass + every night &c: + To Purgatory fire thou com'st at last + and Christ &c: + + 7. + If ever thou gave either Milke or drinke + every night &c: + The fire shall never make thee shrink + and Christ &c: + + 8. + But if milk nor drink thou never gave nean + every night &c: + The Fire shall burn thee to the bare bane + and Christ recive thy Sawle. + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'ean,' one. + 1.3: 'Fleet,' water. --_Aubrey's marginal note._ See above. + 2.3: Whin is a Furze. --_Aubrey_. + 2.4: This line stands in the MS. as here printed. + 3.1: Job cap. xxxi. 19. If I have seen any perish for want of + cloathing, or any poor without covering: 20. If his loyns have + not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my + sheep, &c. --_Aubrey_. + 3.3: There will be hosen and shoon for them. --_Aubrey_. + 4.3: 'beane.' The 'a' was inserted by Aubrey after writing 'bene.' + 6.1: 'no brader than a thread.' Written by Aubrey as here printed + over the second half of the line. Probably it indicates a lost + stanza. See Appendix. + 8.3: 'bane' might be read 'bene.'] + + + + +THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY + + ++The Text+ is given from Allan Ramsay's _Tea-Table Miscellany_, where it +first appeared in the tenth edition (1740) in vol. iv. pp. 356-7. Child +had not seen this, and gave his text from the eleventh edition of 1750. +There is, however, scarcely any difference. + + ++The Story+ of the murder of the Earl of Murray by the Earl of Huntly in +February 1592 is found in several histories and other accounts:-- _The +History of the Church of Scotland_ (1655) by John Spottiswoode, +Archbishop of Glasgow and of St. Andrews: _History of the Western +Highlands and Isles of Scotland_ (1836) by Donald Gregory: _The History +and Life of King James_ (the Sixth), ed. T. Thomson, Bannatyne Club, +(1825): _Extracts from the Diarey of R[obert] B[irrel], Burges of +Edinburgh_ (? 1820): and Sir Walter Scott's _Tales of a Grandfather_. +The following condensed account may suffice:--James Stewart, son of Sir +James Stewart of Doune ('Down,' 6.2), Earl of Murray by his marriage +with the heiress of the Regent Murray, 'was a comely personage, of a +great stature, and strong of body like a kemp,' whence he was generally +known as the Bonny Earl of Murray. In the last months of 1591, a rumour +reached the King's ears that the Earl of Murray had assisted in, or at +least countenanced, the attack recently made on Holyrood House by +Stewart, Earl of Bothwell; and Huntly was commissioned to arrest Murray +and bring him to trial. Murray, apprehended at Donibristle (or +Dunnibirsel), his mother the Lady Doune's house, refused to surrender to +his feudal enemy the Earl of Huntly, and the house was fired. Murray, +after remaining behind the rest of his party, rushed out and broke +through the enemy, but was subsequently discovered (by the plumes on his +headpiece, which had caught fire) and mortally wounded. Tradition says +that Huntly was compelled by his followers to incriminate himself in the +deed, and struck the dying Murray in the face, whereat the bonny Earl +said, 'You have spoiled a better face than your own.' + + +THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY + + 1. + Ye Highlands and ye Lawlands, + Oh! where have you been? + They have slain the Earl of Murray, + And they lay'd him on the green! + _They have, &c._ + + 2. + Now wae be to thee, Huntly, + And wherefore did you sae? + I bade you bring him wi' you, + But forbade you him to slay. + _I bade, &c._ + + 3. + He was a braw gallant, + And he rid at the ring; + And the bonny Earl of Murray, + Oh! he might have been a King. + _And the, &c._ + + 4. + He was a braw gallant, + And he play'd at the ba'; + And the bonny Earl of Murray + Was the flower amang them a'. + _And the, &c._ + + 5. + He was a braw gallant, + And he play'd at the glove; + And the bonny Earl of Murray, + Oh! he was the Queen's love. + _And the, &c._ + + 6. + Oh! lang will his lady + Look o'er the castle Down, + E'er she see the Earl of Murray + Come sounding thro' the town. + _E'er she, &c._ + + + [Annotations: + 3.2: A game of skill and horsemanship. + 5.2: Probably like the last. + 6.3: 'E'er' = ere.] + + + + +BONNIE GEORGE CAMPBELL + + ++The Text+ is from Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, pp. 44-5. + + ++The Story.+--Motherwell says it 'is probably a lament for one of the +adherents of the house of Argyle, who fell in the battle of Glenlivat, +stricken on Thursday, the third day of October, 1594 years.' Another +suggestion is that it refers to a Campbell of Calder killed in a feud +with Campbell of Ardkinglas, the murder being the result of the same +conspiracy which brought the Bonny Earl of Murray to his death. Another +version of the ballad, however, gives the name as James, and it is +useless and unnecessary to particularise. + + +BONNIE GEORGE CAMPBELL + + 1. + Hie upon Hielands + And low upon Tay, + Bonnie George Campbell + Rade out on a day. + Saddled and bridled + And gallant rade he; + Hame came his gude horse, + But never cam he! + + 2. + Out cam his auld mither + Greeting fu' sair, + And out cam his bonnie bride + Rivin' her hair. + Saddled and bridled + And booted rade he; + Toom hame cam the saddle, + But never cam he! + + 3. + 'My meadow lies green, + And my corn is unshorn; + My barn is to big, + And my babie's unborn.' + Saddled and bridled + And booted rade he; + Toom hame cam the saddle, + But never cam he! + + + [Annotations: + 2.4: 'rivin',' tearing. + 2.7: 'Toom,' empty. + 3.3: 'is to big,' remains to be built.] + + + + +THE LAMENT OF THE BORDER WIDOW + + ++The Text+ is given from Scott's _Minstrelsy_ (1803), vol. iii. pp. +83-4. His introduction states that it was obtained from recitation in +the Forest of Ettrick, and that it relates to the execution of a Border +freebooter, named Cokburne, by James V., in 1529. + + ++The Story+ referred to above may have once existed in the ballad, but +the lyrical dirge as it now stands is obviously corrupted with a +broadside-ballad, _The Lady turned Serving-man_, given with +'improvements' by Percy (_Reliques_, 1765, vol. iii. p. 87, etc.). +Compare the first three stanzas of the _Lament_ with stanzas 3, 4, and 5 +of the broadside:-- + + 3. + And then my love built me a bower, + Bedeckt with many a fragrant flower; + A braver bower you never did see + Than my true-love did build for me. + + 4. + But there came thieves late in the night, + They rob'd my bower, and slew my knight, + And after that my knight was slain, + I could no longer there remain. + + 5. + My servants all from me did flye, + In the midst of my extremity, + And left me by my self alone, + With a heart more cold then any stone. + +It is of course impossible to compare the bald style of the broadside +with the beautiful Scottish dirge; and the difficulty of clothing a +bower with lilies, which offends Professor Child, may be disregarded. + + +THE LAMENT OF THE BORDER WIDOW + + 1. + My love he built me a bonny bower, + And clad it a' wi' lilye flour; + A brawer bower ye ne'er did see, + Than my true love he built for me. + + 2. + There came a man, by middle day, + He spied his sport, and went away; + And brought the king, that very night, + Who brake my bower, and slew my knight. + + 3. + He slew my knight, to me sae dear; + He slew my knight, and poin'd his gear; + My servants all for life did flee, + And left me in extremitie. + + 4. + I sew'd his sheet, making my mane; + I watched the corpse, myself alane; + I watched his body, night and day; + No living creature came that way. + + 5. + I took his body on my back, + And whiles I gaed, and whiles I sate; + I digg'd a grave, and laid him in, + And happ'd him with the sod sae green. + + 6. + But think na ye my heart was sair, + When I laid the moul' on his yellow hair? + O think na ye my heart was wae, + When I turn'd about, away to gae? + + 7. + Nae living man I'll love again, + Since that my lovely knight is slain; + Wi' ae lock of his yellow hair, + I'll chain my heart for evermair. + + + [Annotation: + 3.2: 'poin'd' = poinded, distrained.] + + + + +BONNY BEE HO'M and THE LOWLANDS OF HOLLAND + + ++The Texts+ are taken respectively from Alexander Fraser Tytler's Brown +MS., and from Herd's MSS., vol. i. fol. 49, where it is stated that a +verse is wanting. + + ++The Story+ of _Bonny Bee Ho'm_ is of the slightest. The gift of the +ring and chain occurs in many ballads and folk-tales. For the ring, see +_Hind Horn_, 4-6 (First Series, p. 187). + +For the lady's vow to put no comb in her hair, occurring in both +ballads, compare _Clerk Sanders_, 21.4 + +_The Lowlands of Holland_ is merely a lyrical version of the same theme. + + +BONNY BEE HO'M + + 1. + By Arthur's Dale as late I went + I heard a heavy moan; + I heard a ladie lammenting sair, + And ay she cried 'Ohone! + + 2. + 'Ohon, alas! what shall I do, + Tormented night and day! + I never loved a love but ane, + And now he's gone away. + + 3. + 'But I will do for my true-love + What ladies woud think sair; + For seven year shall come and go + Ere a kaim gang in my hair. + + 3. + 'There shall neither a shoe gang on my foot, + Nor a kaim gang in my hair, + Nor e'er a coal nor candle-light + Shine in my bower nae mair.' + + 5. + She thought her love had been on the sea, + Fast sailling to Bee Ho'm; + But he was in a quiet chamer, + Hearing his ladie's moan. + + 6. + 'Be husht, be husht, my ladie dear, + I pray thee mourn not so; + For I am deep sworn on a book + To Bee Ho'm for to go.' + + 7. + She has gi'en him a chain of the beaten gowd, + And a ring with a ruby stone: + 'As lang as this chain your body binds, + Your blude can never be drawn. + + 8. + 'But gin this ring shoud fade or fail, + Or the stone shoud change its hue, + Be sure your love is dead and gone, + Or she has proved untrue.' + + 9. + He had no been at Bonny Bee Ho'm + A twelve mouth and a day, + Till, looking on his gay gowd ring, + The stone grew dark and gray. + + 10. + 'O ye take my riches to Bee Ho'm, + And deal them presentlie, + To the young that canna, the auld that maunna, + And the blind that does not see.' + + 11. + Now death has come into his bower, + And split his heart in twain; + So their twa souls flew up to heaven, + And there shall ever remain. + + + [Annotation: + 1.4: 'twin'd' = twinned, separated.] + + + + +THE LOWLANDS OF HOLLAND + + 1. + 'My love has built a bony ship, and set her on the sea, + With seven score good mariners to bear her company; + There's three score is sunk, and three score dead at sea, + And the Lowlands of Holland has twin'd my love and me. + + 2. + 'My love he built another ship, and set her on the main, + And nane but twenty mariners for to bring her hame; + But the weary wind began to rise, and the sea began to rout, + My love then and his bonny ship turn'd withershins about. + + 3. + 'There shall neither coif come on my head nor comb come in my hair; + There shall neither coal nor candle-light shine in my bower mair; + Nor will I love another one until the day I die, + For I never lov'd a love but one, and he's drowned in the sea.' + + 4. + 'O had your tongue, my daughter dear, be still and be content, + There are mair lads in Galloway, ye neen nae sair lament:' + 'O there is none in Gallow, there's none at a' for me, + For I never lov'd a love but one, and he's drowned in the sea.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.3: 'rout,' roar. + 2.4: 'withershins,' backwards, the wrong way, the opposite of the + desired way. Often = contrary to the way of the sun, but not + necessarily. See note on etymology, Chambers, _Mediaeval Stage_, + i. 129. + 3.1: 'coif,' cap, head-dress. + 4.1: 'had' = haud, hold. + 4.2: 'neen nae' = need na, need not.] + + + + +FAIR HELEN OF KIRCONNELL + + ++The Text+ is taken from Scott's _Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border_ +(1802), vol. i. pp. 72-79, omitting the tedious Part I. Another of many +versions may be found in Sir John Sinclair's _Statistical Account of +Scotland_, vol. xiii. pp. 275-6, about the year 1794; fourteen stanzas, +corresponding to most of Scott's two parts. + + ++The Story+ of the ballad is given in the two above-mentioned books from +tradition as follows. Fair Helen, of the clan of Irving or Bell, +favoured Adam Fleming (Fleeming) with her love; another suitor, whose +name is said to have been Bell, was the choice of the lady's family and +friends. The latter lover becoming jealous, concealed himself in the +bushes of the banks of the Kirtle, which flows by the kirkyard of +Kirconnell, where the true lovers were accustomed to walk. Being +discovered lurking there by Helen, he levelled his carbine at Adam +Fleming. Helen, however, threw herself into her lover's arms, and +received the bullet intended for him: whereupon he slew his rival. He +went abroad to Spain and fought against the infidels, but being still +inconsolable, returned to Kirconnell, perished on Helen's grave, and was +buried beside her. The tombstone, bearing a sword and a cross, with _Hic +jacet Adamus Fleming_, is still (says Scott) shown in the churchyard of +Kirconnell. + +The Flemings were a family belonging to Kirkpatrick-Fleming, a parish in +Dumfries which includes Kirconnell. + +Wordsworth's version of the story includes the famous rhyme:-- + + 'Proud Gordon cannot bear the thoughts + That through his brain are travelling,-- + And, starting up, to Bruce's heart + He launch'd a deadly javelin!' + + +FAIR HELEN OF KIRCONNELL + + 1. + I wish I were where Helen lies, + Night and day on me she cries, + O that I were where Helen lies, + On fair Kirconnell Lee! + + 2. + Curst be the heart that thought the thought, + And curst the hand that fired the shot, + When in my arms burd Helen dropt, + And died to succour me. + + 3. + O think na ye my heart was sair, + When my love dropt down and spak nae mair, + There did she swoon wi' meikle care, + On fair Kirconnell Lee. + + 4. + As I went down the water side, + None but my foe to be my guide, + None but my foe to be my guide, + On fair Kirconnell Lee. + + 5. + I lighted down, my sword did draw, + I hacked him in pieces sma', + I hacked him in pieces sma', + For her sake that died for me. + + 6. + O Helen fair, beyond compare, + I'll make a garland of thy hair, + Shall bind my heart for evermair, + Untill the day I die. + + 7. + O that I were where Helen lies, + Night and day on me she cries, + Out of my bed she bids me rise, + Says, 'Haste, and come to me!' + + 8. + O Helen fair! O Helen chaste! + If I were with thee I were blest, + Where thou lies low, and takes thy rest + On fair Kirconnell Lee. + + 9. + I wish my grave were growing green, + A winding-sheet drawn ower my e'en + And I in Helen's arms lying + On fair Kirconnell Lee. + + 10. + I wish I were where Helen lies, + Night and day on me she cries, + And I am weary of the skies, + For her sake that died for me. + + + + +SIR HUGH, OR THE JEW'S DAUGHTER + + ++The Text+ is given from Jamieson's _Popular Ballads_, as taken down by +him from Mrs. Brown's recitation. + + ++The Story+ of the ballad is told at length in at least two ancient +monastic records; in the _Annals of the Monastery of Waverley_, the +first Cistercian house in England, near Farnham, Surrey (edited by +Luard, vol. ii. p. 346, etc., from MS. Cotton Vesp, A. xvi. fol. 150, +etc.); more fully in the _Annals of the Monastery at Burton-on-Trent_, +Staffordshire (edited by Luard, vol. i. pp. 340, etc., from MS. Cotton +Vesp. E. iii. fol. 53, etc.). Both of these give the date as 1255, the +latter adding July 31. Matthew Paris also tells the tale as a +contemporary event. The details may be condensed as follows. + +All the principal Jews in England being collected at the end of July +1255 at Lincoln, Hugh, a schoolboy, while playing with his companions +(_jocis ac choreis_) was by them kidnapped, tortured, and finally +crucified. His body was then thrown into a stream, but the water, +_tantam sui Creatoris injuriam non ferens_, threw the corpse back on to +the land. The Jews then buried it; but it was found next morning +above-ground. Finally it was thrown into a well, which at once was lit +up with so brilliant a light and so sweet an odour, that word went forth +of a miracle. Christians came to see, discovered the body floating on +the surface, and drew it up. Finding the hands and feet to be pierced, +the head ringed with bleeding scratches, and the body otherwise wounded, +it was at once clear to all _tanti sceleris auctores detestandos fuisse +Judaeos_, eighteen of whom were subsequently hanged. + +Other details may be gleaned from various accounts. The name of the Jew +into whose house the boy was taken is given as Copin or Jopin. Hugh was +eight or nine years old. Matthew Paris adds the circumstance of Hugh's +mother (Beatrice by name) seeking and finding him. + +The original story has obviously become contaminated with others (such +as Chaucer's _Prioresses Tale_) in the course of six hundred and fifty +years. But the central theme, the murder of a child by the Jews, is +itself of great antiquity; and similar charges are on record in Europe +even in the nineteenth century. Further material for the study of this +ballad may be found in Francisque Michel's _Hugh de Lincoln_ (1839), and +J. O. Halliwell [-Phillipps]'s _Ballads and Poems respecting Hugh of +Lincoln_ (1849). + +Percy in the _Reliques_ (1765), vol. i. p. 32, says:-- 'If we consider, +on the one hand, the ignorance and superstition of the times when such +stories took their rise, the virulent prejudices of the monks who record +them, and the eagerness with which they would be catched up by the +barbarous populace as a pretence for plunder; on the other hand, the +great danger incurred by the perpetrators, and the inadequate motives +they could have to excite them to a crime of so much horror, we may +reasonably conclude the whole charge to be groundless and malicious.' + +The tune 'as sung by the late Mrs. Sheridan' may be found in John +Stafford Smith's _Musica Antiqua_ (1812), vol. i. p. 65, and +Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, tune No. 7. + + +SIR HUGH, OR THE JEW'S DAUGHTER + + 1. + Four and twenty bonny boys + Were playing at the ba', + And by it came him sweet Sir Hugh, + And he play'd o'er them a'. + + 2. + He kick'd the ba' with his right foot, + And catch'd it wi' his knee, + And throuch-and-thro' the Jew's window + He gard the bonny ba' flee. + + 3. + He's doen him to the Jew's castell, + And walk'd it round about; + And there he saw the Jew's daughter, + At the window looking out. + + 4. + 'Throw down the ba', ye Jew's daughter, + Throw down the ba' to me!' + 'Never a bit,' says the Jew's daughter, + 'Till up to me come ye.' + + 5. + 'How will I come up? How can I come up? + How can I come to thee? + For as ye did to my auld father, + The same ye'll do to me.' + + 6. + She's gane till her father's garden, + And pu'd an apple red and green; + 'Twas a' to wyle him sweet Sir Hugh, + And to entice him in. + + 7. + She's led him in through ae dark door, + And sae has she thro' nine; + She's laid him on a dressing-table, + And stickit him like a swine. + + 8. + And first came out the thick, thick blood, + And syne came out the thin, + And syne came out the bonny heart's blood; + There was nae mair within. + + 9. + She's row'd him in a cake o' lead, + Bade him lie still and sleep; + She's thrown him in Our Lady's draw-well, + Was fifty fathom deep. + + 10. + When bells were rung, and mass was sung, + And a' the bairns came hame, + When every lady gat hame her son, + The Lady Maisry gat nane. + + 11. + She's ta'en her mantle her about, + Her coffer by the hand, + And she's gane out to seek her son, + And wander'd o'er the land. + + 12. + She's doen her to the Jew's castell, + Where a' were fast asleep: + 'Gin ye be there, my sweet Sir Hugh, + I pray you to me speak.' + + 13. + She's doen her to the Jew's garden, + Thought he had been gathering fruit: + 'Gin ye be there, my sweet Sir Hugh, + I pray you to me speak.' + + 14. + She near'd Our Lady's deep draw-well, + Was fifty fathom deep: + 'Whare'er ye be, my sweet Sir Hugh, + I pray you to me speak.' + + 15. + 'Gae hame, gae hame, my mither dear. + Prepare my winding sheet, + And at the back o' merry Lincoln + The morn I will you meet.' + + 16. + Now Lady Maisry is gane hame, + Made him a winding sheet, + And at the back o' merry Lincoln + The dead corpse did her meet. + + 17. + And a' the bells o' merry Lincoln + Without men's hands were rung, + And a' the books o' merry Lincoln + Were read without man's tongue, + And ne'er was such a burial + Sin Adam's days begun. + + + + +THE DAEMON LOVER + + ++The Text+ is from Kinloch's MSS., 'from the recitation of T. Kinnear, +Stonehaven.' Child remarks of it that 'probably by the fortunate +accident of being a fragment' it 'leaves us to put our own construction +upon the weird seaman; and, though it retains the homely ship-carpenter, +is on the whole the most satisfactory of all the versions.' + + ++The Story+ is told more elaborately in a broadside, and resembles +_Enoch Arden_ in a certain degree. James Harris, a seaman, plighted to +Jane Reynolds, was captured by a press-gang, taken overseas, and, after +three years, reported dead and buried in a foreign land. After a +respectable interval, a ship-carpenter came to Jane Reynolds, and +eventually wedded her, and the loving couple had three pretty children. +One night, however, the ship-carpenter being on a three days' journey, +a spirit came to the window, and said that his name was James Harris, +and that he had come to take her away as his wife. She explains that she +is married, and would not have her husband know of this visit for five +hundred pounds. James Harris, however, said he had seven ships upon the +sea; and when she heard these 'fair tales,' she succumbed, went away +with him, and 'was never seen no more.' The ship-carpenter on his return +hanged himself. + +Scott's ballad in the _Minstrelsy_ spoils its own effect by converting +the spirit into the devil. An American version of 1858 tells the tale of +a 'house-carpenter' and his wife, and alters 'the banks of Italy' to +'the banks of old Tennessee.' + + +THE DAEMON LOVER + + 1. + 'O whare hae ye been, my dearest dear, + These seven lang years and more?' + 'O I am come to seek my former vows, + That ye promis'd me before.' + + 2. + 'Awa wi' your former vows,' she says, + 'Or else ye will breed strife; + Awa wi' your former vows,' she says, + 'For I'm become a wife. + + 3. + 'I am married to a ship-carpenter, + A ship-carpenter he's bound; + I wadna he ken'd my mind this nicht + For twice five hundred pound' + + *** *** *** + + 4. + She has put her foot on gude ship-board, + And on ship-board she's gane, + And the veil that hung oure her face + Was a' wi' gowd begane. + + 5. + She had na sailed a league, a league, + A league but barely twa, + Till she did mind on the husband she left, + And her wee young son alsua. + + 6. + 'O haud your tongue, my dearest dear, + Let all your follies abee; + I'll show whare the white lillies grow, + On the banks of Italie.' + + 7. + She had na sailed a league, a league, + A league but barely three, + Till grim, grim grew his countenance, + And gurly grew the sea. + + 8. + 'O haud your tongue, my dearest dear, + Let all your follies abee; + I'll show whare the white lillies grow, + In the bottom of the sea.' + + 9. + He's tane her by the milk-white hand, + And he's thrown her in the main; + And full five-and-twenty hundred ships + Perish'd all on the coast of Spain. + + + [Annotations: + 4.4: 'begane,' overlaid. + 7.4: 'gurly,' tempestuous, lowering.] + + + + +THE BROOMFIELD HILL + + ++The Text+ is taken from Scott's _Minstrelsy_ (1803). It would be of +great interest if we could be sure that the reference to 'Hive Hill' in +8.1 was from genuine Scots tradition. In Wager's comedy _The Longer thou +Lived the more Fool thou art_ (about 1568) Moros sings a burden:-- + + 'Brome, brome on hill, + The gentle brome on hill, hill, + Brome, brome on Hive hill, + The gentle brome on Hive hill, + The brome stands on Hive hill a.' + +Before this date 'Brume, brume on hil' is mentioned in _The Complaynt of +Scotlande_, 1549; and a similar song was among Captain Cox's 'ballets +and songs, all auncient.' + + ++The Story+, of a youth challenging a maid, and losing his wager by +being laid asleep with witchcraft, is popular and widespread. In the +_Gesta Romanorum_ is a story of which this theme is one main incident, +the other being the well-known forfeit of a pound of flesh, as in the +_Merchant of Venice_. Ser Giovanni (_Pecorone_, IV. 1) tells a similar +tale, and other variations are found in narrative or ballad form in +Iceland, Sweden, Denmark, Italy, and Germany. + +Grimm notes the German superstition that the _rosenschwamm_ (gall on the +wild rose), if laid beneath a man's pillow, causes him to sleep until it +be taken away. + + +THE BROOMFIELD HILL + + 1. + There was a knight and a lady bright, + Had a true tryste at the broom; + The ane gaed early in the morning, + The other in the afternoon. + + 2. + And ay she sat in her mother's bower door, + And ay she made her mane: + 'O whether should I gang to the Broomfield Hill, + Or should I stay at hame? + + 3. + 'For if I gang to the Broomfield Hill, + My maidenhead is gone; + And if I chance to stay at hame, + My love will ca' me mansworn.' + + 4. + Up then spake a witch-woman, + Ay from the room aboon: + 'O ye may gang to the Broomfield Hill, + And yet come maiden hame. + + 5. + 'For when ye gang to the Broomfield Hill, + Ye'll find your love asleep, + With a silver belt about his head, + And a broom-cow at his feet. + + 6. + 'Take ye the blossom of the broom, + The blossom it smells sweet, + And strew it at your true-love's head, + And likewise at his feet. + + 7. + 'Take ye the rings off your fingers, + Put them on his right hand, + To let him know, when he doth awake, + His love was at his command.' + + 8. + She pu'd the broom flower on Hive Hill, + And strew'd on's white hals-bane, + And that was to be wittering true + That maiden she had gane. + + 9. + 'O where were ye, my milk-white steed, + That I hae coft sae dear, + That wadna watch and waken me + When there was maiden here?' + + 10. + 'I stamped wi' my foot, master, + And gard my bridle ring, + But na kin thing wald waken ye, + Till she was past and gane.' + + 11. + 'And wae betide ye, my gay goss-hawk, + That I did love sae dear, + That wadna watch and waken me + When there was maiden here.' + + 12. + 'I clapped wi' my wings, master, + And aye my bells I rang, + And aye cry'd, Waken, waken, master, + Before the lady gang.' + + 13. + 'But haste and haste, my gude white steed. + To come the maiden till, + Or a' the birds of gude green wood + Of your flesh shall have their fill.' + + 14. + 'Ye need na burst your gude white steed + Wi' racing o'er the howm; + Nae bird flies faster through the wood, + Than she fled through the broom.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.4: 'mansworn,' perjured. + 5.4: 'broom-cow,' twig of broom. + 8.2: 'hals-bane,' neck-bone. See _The Twa Corbies_ (p. 82), 4.1. + 8.3: 'wittering,' witness. + 9.2: 'coft,' bought. + 10.3: 'kin,' kind of. Cp. _Lady Maisry_, 2.2 (First Series, + p. 70). + 14.2: 'howm' = holme, the level low ground on the banks of a river + or stream. --Jamieson.] + + + + +WILLIE'S FATAL VISIT + + ++The Text+ is taken from Buchan's _Ballads of the North of Scotland_. It +consists largely of familiar fragments. Stanzas 9-11 can be found in +_The Grey Cock_. + + ++The Story+ is a trivial piece in Buchan's usual style; but the smiling +ghost, which is female (17.1), is a delightful novelty. She assumes the +position of guardian of Willie's morals, then tears him in pieces, and +hangs a piece on every seat in the church, and his head over Meggie's +pew! + + +WILLIE'S FATAL VISIT + + 1. + 'Twas on an evening fair I went to take the air, + I heard a maid making her moan; + Said, 'Saw ye my father? Or saw ye my mother? + Or saw ye my brother John? + Or saw ye the lad that I love best, + And his name it is Sweet William?' + + 2. + 'I saw not your father, I saw not your mother, + Nor saw I your brother John; + But I saw the lad that ye love best, + And his name it is Sweet William.' + + 3. + 'O was my love riding? or was he running? + Or was he walking alone? + Or says he that he will be here this night? + O dear, but he tarries long!' + + 4. + 'Your love was not riding, nor yet was he running, + But fast was he walking alone; + He says that he will be here this night to thee, + And forbids you to think long.' + + 5. + Then Willie he has gane to his love's door, + And gently tirled the pin: + 'O sleep ye, wake ye, my bonny Meggie, + Ye'll rise, lat your true-love in.' + + 6. + The lassie being swack ran to the door fu' snack, + And gently she lifted the pin, + Then into her arms sae large and sae lang + She embraced her bonny love in. + + 7. + 'O will ye gang to the cards or the dice, + Or to a table o' wine? + Or will ye gang to a well-made bed, + Well cover'd wi' blankets fine?' + + 8. + 'O I winna gang to the cards nor the dice, + Nor yet to a table o' wine; + But I'll rather gang to a well-made bed, + Well-cover'd wi' blankets fine.' + + 9. + 'My braw little cock, sits on the house tap, + Ye'll craw not till it be day, + And your kame shall be o' the gude red gowd, + And your wings o' the siller grey.' + + 10. + The cock being fause untrue he was, + And he crew an hour ower seen; + They thought it was the gude day-light, + But it was but the light of the meen. + + 11. + 'Ohon, alas!' says bonny Meggie then, + 'This night we hae sleeped ower lang!' + 'O what is the matter?' then Willie replied, + 'The faster then I must gang.' + + 12. + Then Sweet Willie raise, and put on his claise, + And drew till him stockings and sheen, + And took by his side his berry-brown sword, + And ower yon lang hill he's gane. + + 13. + As he gaed ower yon high, high hill, + And down yon dowie den, + Great and grievous was the ghost he saw, + Would fear ten thousand men. + + 14. + As he gaed in by Mary kirk, + And in by Mary stile, + Wan and weary was the ghost + Upon sweet Willie did smile. + + 15. + 'Aft hae ye travell'd this road, Willie, + Aft hae ye travell'd in sin; + Ye ne'er said sae muckle for your saul + As, My Maker bring me hame! + + 16. + 'Aft hae ye travell'd this road, Willie, + Your bonny love to see; + But ye'll never travel this road again + Till ye leave a token wi' me.' + + 17. + Then she has ta'en him Sweet Willie, + Riven him frae gair to gair, + And on ilka seat o' Mary's kirk + O' Willie she hang a share; + Even abeen his love Meggie's dice, + Hang's head and yellow hair. + + 18. + His father made moan, his mother made moan, + But Meggie made muckle mair; + His father made moan, his mother made moan, + But Meggie reave her yellow hair. + + + [Annotations: + 6.1: 'swack,' nimble; 'snack,' quick. + 13.4: 'fear,' frighten. + 17.2: 'frae gair to gair,' from side to side. + 17.5: 'dice,' pew. + 18.4: 'reave,' tore.] + + + + +ADAM + + ++The Text+ of this half-carol, half-ballad is taken from the Sloane MS. +2593, whence we get _Saint Stephen and King Herod_ and other charming +pieces like the well-known carol, 'I syng of a mayden.' It is written in +eight long lines in the MS. + + ++The Story.+--Wright, who printed the above MS. for the Warton Club in +1856, remarks that Adam was supposed to have remained bound in the +_limbus patrum_ from the time of his death until the Crucifixion. In the +romance of _Owain Miles_ (Cotton MS. Calig. A. ii.) the bishops told +Owain that Adam was 'yn helle with Lucyfere' for four thousand six +hundred and four years. On account of this tradition incorporated in the +carol, I have ventured to include it as a ballad, although it does not +find a place in Professor Child's collection. + + +ADAM + + 1. + Adam lay i-bowndyn, + bowndyn in a bond, + Fowre thowsand wynter + thowt he not to long; + + 2. + And al was for an appil, + an appil that he tok, + As clerkes fyndyn wretyn + in here book. + + 3. + Ne hadde the appil take ben, + the appil taken ben, + Ne hadde never our lady + a ben hevene qwen. + + 4. + Blyssid be the tyme + that appil take was! + Therfore we mown syngyn + _Deo gracias_. + + + [Annotations: + 2.4: 'here,' their. The 'book' is, of course, the Bible. + 3.4: 'hevene' is the old genitive = of heaven. + 4.3: 'mown' = can or may.] + + + + +SAINT STEPHEN AND KING HEROD + + ++The Text+ is taken from the same manuscript as the last. This +manuscript is ascribed, from the style of handwriting, to the reign of +Henry VI. The ballad is there written without division into stanzas in +twenty-four long lines. + + ++The Story.+--The miraculous resuscitation of a roast fowl (generally a +cock, as here), in confirmation of an incredible prophecy, is a tale +found in nearly all European countries. Originally, we find, the miracle +is connected with the Passion, not the Nativity. See the _Carnal and the +Crane_. + +An interpolation in a late Greek MS. of the apocryphal Gospel of +Nicodemus relates that Judas, having failed to induce the Jews to take +back the thirty pieces of silver, went home to hang himself, and found +his wife roasting a cock. On his demand for a rope to hang himself, she +asked why he intended to do so; and he told her he had betrayed his +master Jesus to evil men, who would kill him; yet he would rise again on +the third day. His wife was incredulous, and said, 'Sooner shall this +cock, roasting over the coals, crow again'; whereat the cock napped his +wings and crew thrice. And Judas, confirmed in the truth, straightway +made a noose in the rope, and hanged himself. + +Thence the miracle-tale spread over Europe. In a Spanish version not +only the cock crows, but his partner the hen lays an egg, in +asseveration of the truth. The tale is generally connected with the +legend of the Pilgrims of St. James; so in French, Spanish, Dutch, +Wendish, and Breton ballads. + +In 1701 there was printed in London a broadside sheet of carols, headed +with a woodcut of the Nativity, by the side of which is printed: +'A religious man, inventing the conceits of both birds and beasts drawn +in the picture of our Saviour's birth, doth thus express them:-- The +cock croweth _Christus natus est_, Christ is born. The raven asked +_Quando?_ When? The crow replied _Hac nocte_, This night. The ox cryeth +out _Ubi? Ubi?_ Where? where? The sheep bleated out _Bethlehem_' (Hone's +_Every-day Book_). + + +SAINT STEPHEN AND KING HEROD + + 1. + Seynt Stevene was a clerk + in kyng Herowdes halle, + And servyd him of bred and cloth, + as every kyng befalle. + + 2. + Stevyn out of kechoun cam + wyth boris hed on honde, + He saw a sterre was fayr and brycht + over Bedlem stonde. + + 3. + He kyst adoun the bores hed, + and went in to the halle; + 'I forsak the, kyng Herowdes, + and thi werkes alle. + + 4. + 'I forsak the, kyng Herowdes, + and thi werkes alle, + Ther is a chyld in Bedlem born + is beter than we alle.' + + 5. + 'Quat eylyt the, Stevene? + quat is the befalle? + Lakkyt the eyther mete or drynk + in kyng Herodwes halle?' + + 6. + 'Lakit me neyther mete ne drynk + in king Herowdes halle; + There is a chyld in Bedlem born, + is beter than we alle.' + + 7. + 'Quat eylyt the, Stevyn? art thou wod? + or thou gynnyst to brede? + Lakkyt the eyther gold or fe, + or ony ryche wede?' + + 8. + 'Lakyt me neyther gold ne fe, + ne non ryche wede; + Ther is a chyld in Bedlem born, + schal helpyn us at our nede.' + + 9. + 'That is al so soth, Stevyn, + al so soth i-wys, + As this capoun crowe schal + that lyth here in myn dysh.' + + 10. + That word was not so sone seyd, + that word in that halle, + The capoun crew _Cristus natus est!_ + among the lordes alle. + + 11. + 'Rysyt up, myn turmentowres, + be to and al be on, + And ledit Stevyn out of this town + and stonit him with ston.' + + 12. + Tokyn he Stevene, + and stonyd hym in the way; + And therfore is his evyn + on Crystes owyn day. + + + [Annotations: + 5.1: What aileth thee? + 5.3, etc.: 'Lakkyt the,' Dost thou lack. + 7.1: 'wod,' mad. + 7.2: 'brede,' rouse, _i.e._ become angry (?). + 11.1, etc.: 'Rysyt,' 'ledit,' 'stonit': these are all imperatives. + 11.2: 'be to,' etc., by twos and all one by one (?). Cp. _Fair + Margaret and Sweet William_, 10.2 (First Series, p. 65).] + + + + +THE CHERRY-TREE CAROL + + ++The Text.+--As this carol consists of two parts, the first containing +the actual story of the cherry-tree, and the second consisting of the +angel's song to Joseph, I have taken the first part (stt. 1-12 +inclusive) from the version of Sandys (_Christmas Carols_), and the +second (stt. 13-17) from W. H. Husk's _Songs of the Nativity_. + + ++The Story+ of the cherry-tree is derived from the Pseudo-Matthew's +gospel, and is also to be found in the fifteenth of the Coventry +Mysteries. In other languages the fruit chosen is naturally adapted to +the country: thus in Provencal it is an apple; elsewhere (as in the +original), dates from the palm-tree; and again, a fig-tree. + +The second part is often printed as a separate carol, and might well +stand alone. Readers of _Westward Ho!_ will remember how Amyas Leigh +trolls it forth on Christmas Day. Traditional versions are still to be +heard in Somerset and Devon. + + +THE CHERRY-TREE CAROL + + 1. + Joseph was an old man, + And an old man was he, + When he wedded Mary, + In the land of Galilee. + + 2. + Joseph and Mary walked + Through an orchard good, + Where was cherries and berries, + So red as any blood. + + 3. + Joseph and Mary walked + Through an orchard green, + Where was berries and cherries, + As thick as might be seen. + + 4. + O then bespoke Mary, + So meek and so mild: + 'Pluck me one cherry, Joseph, + For I am with child.' + + 5. + O then bespoke Joseph, + With words most unkind: + 'Let him pluck thee a cherry + That got thee with child.' + + 6. + O then bespoke the babe, + Within his mother's womb: + 'Bow down then the tallest tree, + For my mother to have some.' + + 7. + Then bowed down the highest tree + Unto his mother's hand; + Then she cried, 'See, Joseph, + I have cherries at command.' + + 8. + O then bespake Joseph: + 'I have done Mary wrong; + But cheer up, my dearest, + And be not cast down.' + + 9. + Then Mary plucked a cherry + As red as the blood; + Then Mary went home + With her heavy load. + + 10. + Then Mary took her babe, + And sat him on her knee, + Saying, 'My dear son, tell me + What this world will be.' + + 11. + 'O I shall be as dead, mother, + As the stones in the wall; + O the stones in the streets, mother, + Shall mourn for me all. + + 12. + 'Upon Easter-day, mother, + My uprising shall be; + O the sun and the moon, mother, + Shall both rise with me.' + + * * * + + 13. + As Joseph was a walking, + He heard an angel sing: + 'This night shall be born + Our heavenly king. + + 14. + 'He neither shall be born + In housen nor in hall, + Nor in the place of Paradise, + But in an ox's stall. + + 15. + 'He neither shall be clothed + In purple nor in pall, + But all in fair linen, + As wear babies all. + + 16. + 'He neither shall be rocked + In silver nor in gold, + But in a wooden cradle, + That rocks on the mould. + + 17. + 'He neither shall be christened + In white wine nor red, + But with fair spring water, + With which we were christened.' + + + + +THE CARNAL AND THE CRANE + + ++The Text+ is taken from Sandys' _Christmas Carols_, where it is printed +from a broadside. The only alterations, in which I have followed +Professor Child, are the obvious correction of 'east' for 'west' (8.1), +and the insertion of one word in 16.2, where Child says 'perhaps a +preposition has been dropped.' + + ++The Story+ is compounded of popular legends connected with the life and +miracles of Christ. For the miracle of the cock, see _Saint Stephen and +King Herod_. The adoration of the beasts is derived from the _Historia +de Nativitate Mariae_, and is repeated in many legends of the infancy of +Christ, but is not sufficiently remarkable in itself to be popular in +carols. The origin of the miracle of the harvest is unknown, though in a +Breton ballad it forms one of the class known as the miracles of the +Virgin (cp. _Brown Robyn's Confession_). Swedish, Provencal, Catalan, +Wendish, and Belgian folk-tales record similar legends. + +It is much to be regretted that this ballad, which from internal +evidence (_e.g._ the use of the word 'renne,' 1.2) is to be attributed +to an early age, should have become so incoherent and corrupted by oral +tradition. No manuscript or printed copy is known earlier than about +1750, when it occurs in broadside form. The very word 'Carnal' has +lapsed from the dictionaries, though somewhere it may survive in speech. +Stanza 17 is obviously out of place; one may suspect gaps on either +side, for surely more beasts than the 'lovely lion' were enumerated, and +a new section begins at stanza 18. + + +THE CARNAL AND THE CRANE + + 1. + As I pass'd by a river side, + And there as I did reign, + In argument I chanced to hear + A Carnal and a Crane. + + 2. + The Carnal said unto the Crane, + 'If all the world should turn, + Before we had the Father, + But now we have the Son! + + 3. + 'From whence does the Son come, + From where and from what place?' + He said, 'In a manger, + Between an ox and ass.' + + 4. + 'I pray thee,' said the Carnal, + 'Tell me before thou go, + Was not the mother of Jesus + Conceiv'd by the Holy Ghost?' + + 5. + 'She was the purest virgin, + And the cleanest from sin; + She was the handmaid of our Lord, + And mother of our King.' + + 6. + 'Where is the golden cradle + That Christ was rocked in? + Where are the silken sheets + That Jesus was wrapt in?' + + 7. + 'A manger was the cradle + That Christ was rocked in: + The provender the asses left + So sweetly he slept on.' + + 8. + There was a star in the east land + So bright it did appear, + Into King Herod's chamber, + And where King Herod were. + + 9. + The Wise Men soon espied it, + And told the king on high + A princely babe was born that night + No king could e'er destroy. + + 10. + 'If this be true,' King Herod said, + 'As thou tellest unto me, + This roasted cock that lies in the dish + Shall crow full fences three.' + + 11. + The cock soon freshly feather'd was, + By the work of God's own hand, + And then three fences crowed he, + In the dish where he did stand. + + 12. + 'Rise up, rise up, you merry men all, + See that you ready be; + All children under two years old + Now slain they all shall be.' + + 13. + Then Jesus, ah, and Joseph, + And Mary, that was so pure, + They travell'd into Egypt, + As you shall find it sure. + + 14. + And when they came to Egypt's land, + Amongst those fierce wild beasts, + Mary, she being weary, + Must needs sit down to rest. + + 15. + 'Come sit thee down,' says Jesus, + 'Come sit thee down by me, + And thou shalt see how these wild beasts + Do come and worship me.' + + 16. + First came the lovely lion, + Which [to] Jesus' grace did spring, + And of the wild beasts in the field + The Lion shall be king. + + 17. + We'll choose our virtuous princes + Of birth and high degree, + In every sundry nation, + Where'er we come and see. + + 18. + Then Jesus, ah, and Joseph, + And Mary, that was unknown, + They travelled by a husbandman, + Just while his seed was sown. + + 19. + 'God speed thee, man,' said Jesus, + 'Go fetch thy ox and wain, + And carry home thy corn again + Which thou this day hast sown.' + + 20. + The husbandman fell on his knees + Even upon his face: + 'Long time hast thou been looked for, + But now thou art come at last. + + 21. + 'And I myself do now believe + Thy name is Jesus called; + Redeemer of mankind thou art, + Though undeserving all.' + + 22. + 'The truth, man, thou hast spoken, + Of it thou mayst be sure, + For I must lose my precious blood + For thee and thousands more. + + 23. + 'If any one should come this way, + And enquire for me alone, + Tell them that Jesus passed by + As thou thy seed didst sow.' + + 24. + After that there came King Herod, + With his train so furiously, + Enquiring of the husbandman + Whether Jesus passed by. + + 25. + 'Why, the truth it must be spoke, + And the truth it must be known; + For Jesus passed by this way + When my seed was sown. + + 26. + 'But now I have it reapen, + And some laid on my wain, + Ready to fetch and carry + Into my barn again.' + + 27. + 'Turn back,' said the captain, + 'Your labour and mine's in vain; + It's full three quarters of a year + Since he his seed hath sown.' + + 28. + So Herod was deceived, + By the work of God's own hand, + And further he proceeded + Into the Holy Land. + + 29. + There's thousands of children young + Which for his sake did die; + Do not forbid those little ones, + And do not them deny. + + 30. + The truth now I have spoken, + And the truth now I have shown; + Even the Blessed Virgin + She's now brought forth a son. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'reign' = renne, the old form of run. + 1.4: 'Carnal,' jackdaw (? der. _cornicula_, _corneille_). + 10.4: 'fences,' times. + 21.4: _i.e._ though all (mankind) be undeserving.] + + + + +DIVES AND LAZARUS + + ++The Text+ is given from Joshua Sylvester's _A Garland of Christmas +Carols_, where it is printed from an old Birmingham broadside. + + ++The Story+ is one which naturally attracted the attention of the +popular ballad-maker, and parallel ballads exist in fairly wide European +distribution. + +Like the _Carnal and the Crane_, the form in which this ballad is now +known is no witness of its antiquity. A 'ballet of the Ryche man and +poor Lazarus' was licensed to be printed in 1558; 'a ballett, Dyves and +Lazarus,' in 1570-1. + +In Fletcher's _Monsieur Thomas_ (1639), a fiddler says he can sing the +merry ballad of _Diverus and Lazarus_. A correspondent in _Notes and +Queries_ (ser. IV. iii. 76) says he had heard only Diverus, never Dives, +and contributes from memory a version as sung by carol-singers at +Christmas in Worcestershire, in which the parallelism of the stanzas is +pushed so far that, in the lines corresponding to 13.3 and 13.4 in the +present version, we have the delightfully popular idea-- + + 'There is a place prepared in hell, + For to sit upon a serpent's knee.' + +Husk (_Songs of the Nativity_) also gives this version, from an +eighteenth-century Worcestershire broadside. I have no doubt but that +this feature is traditional from the unknown sixteenth-century ballad. + + +DIVES AND LAZARUS + + 1. + As it fell out upon a day, + Rich Dives he made a feast, + And he invited all his friends, + And gentry of the best. + + 2. + Then Lazarus laid him down and down, + And down at Dives' door: + 'Some meat, some drink, brother Dives, + Bestow upon the poor.' + + 3. + 'Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus, + That lies begging at my door; + No meat nor drink will I give thee, + Nor bestow upon the poor.' + + 4. + Then Lazarus laid him down and down, + And down at Dives' wall: + 'Some meat, some drink, brother Dives, + Or with hunger starve I shall.' + + 5. + 'Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus, + That lies begging at my wall; + No meat nor drink will I give thee, + But with hunger starve you shall.' + + 6. + Then Lazarus laid him down and down, + And down at Dives' gate: + 'Some meat, some drink, brother Dives, + For Jesus Christ his sake.' + + 7. + 'Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus, + That lies begging at my gate; + No meat nor drink will I give thee, + For Jesus Christ his sake.' + + 8. + Then Dives sent out his merry men, + To whip poor Lazarus away; + They had no power to strike a stroke, + But flung their whips away. + + 9. + Then Dives sent out his hungry dogs. + To bite him as he lay; + They had no power to bite at all, + But licked his sores away. + + 10. + As it fell out upon a day, + Poor Lazarus sickened and died; + There came two angels out of heaven. + His soul therein to guide. + + 11. + 'Rise up, rise up, brother Lazarus, + And go along with me; + For you've a place prepared in heaven, + To sit on an angel's knee.' + + 12. + As it fell out upon a day, + Rich Dives sickened and died; + There came two serpents out of hell, + His soul therein to guide. + + 13. + 'Rise up, rise up, brother Dives, + And go with us to see + A dismal place prepared in hell, + From which thou canst not flee.' + + 14. + Then Dives looked up with his eyes. + And saw poor Lazarus blest: + 'Give me one drop of water, brother Lazarus, + To quench my flaming thirst. + + 15. + 'Oh! had I as many years to abide, + As there are blades of grass, + Then there would be an end, but now + Hell's pains will ne'er be past. + + 16. + 'Oh! was I now but alive again, + The space of an half hour: + Oh! that I'd made my peace secure, + Then the devil should have no power.' + + + + +BROWN ROBYN'S CONFESSION + + ++The Text+ is the only one known, that printed by Buchan, _Ballads of +the North of Scotland_, and copied into Motherwell's MS. + + ++The Story+, relating as it does a miracle of the Virgin, is, perhaps, +the only one we possess of a class which, in other lands, is so +extensive. A similar Scandinavian ballad has a tragical termination, +except in one version. + +The casting of lots to discover the Jonah of a ship is a feature common +to many literatures. + + +BROWN ROBYN'S CONFESSION + + 1. + It fell upon a Wodensday + Brown Robyn's men went to sea, + But they saw neither moon nor sun, + Nor starlight wi' their ee. + + 2. + 'We'll cast kevels us amang, + See wha the unhappy man may be;' + The kevel fell on Brown Robyn, + The master-man was he. + + 3. + 'It is nae wonder,' said Brown Robyn, + 'Altho I dinna thrive, + For wi' my mither I had twa bairns, + And wi' my sister five. + + 4. + 'But tie me to a plank o' wude + And throw me in the sea; + And if I sink; ye may bid me sink, + But if I swim, just lat me bee.' + + 5. + They've tyed him to a plank o' wude, + And thrown him in the sea; + He didna sink, tho' they bade him sink; + He swim'd, and they bade lat him bee. + + 6. + He hadna been into the sea + An hour but barely three, + Till by it came Our Blessed Lady, + Her dear young son her wi'. + + 7. + 'Will ye gang to your men again, + Or will ye gang wi' me? + Will ye gang to the high heavens, + Wi' my dear son and me?' + + 8. + 'I winna gang to my men again, + For they would be feared at mee; + But I woud gang to the high heavens, + Wi' thy dear son and thee.' + + 9. + 'It's for nae honour ye did to me, Brown Robyn, + It's for nae guid ye did to mee; + But a' is for your fair confession + You've made upon the sea.' + + + [Annotation: + 2.1: 'kevels,' lots.] + + + + +JUDAS + + ++The Text+ is given from a thirteenth-century MS. in the library of +Trinity College, Cambridge (B. 14, 39): it is thus the earliest text of +any ballad that we possess. In the MS. it is written in long lines, four +(or six, as in 4, 12, and 14) to the stanza. + +As the language in which it is written is not easily intelligible, +I have added a paraphrase on the opposite pages. + + [Transcriber's Note: + The modern paraphrase is shown here stanza by stanza, with a deeper + indent than the primary text.] + + ++The Story+ is of great interest, as it adds to the various legends of +Judas a 'swikele' sister. The treachery of Judas has long been popularly +explained (from the Gospel of St. John, xii. 3-6) as follows:-- Judas, +being accustomed as bearer of the bag to take a tithe of all moneys +passing through his hands, considered that he had lost thirty pence on +the ointment that might have been sold for three hundred pence, and so +took his revenge. + +A Wendish ballad makes him lose the thirty pieces of silver, intrusted +to him for buying bread, in gambling with certain Jews, who, when he had +lost everything, suggested that he should sell his Master. Afterwards, +in remorse, he rushes away to hang himself. The fir-tree is soft wood +and will not bear him. The aspen is hard wood, and will bear him; so he +hangs himself on the aspen. Since when, the aspen always trembles in +fear of the Judgement day. + + +JUDAS + + PARAPHRASE + + 1. + Hit wes upon a Scere-thorsday + that ure loverd aros; + Ful milde were the wordes + he spec to Iudas. + + 1. + It was upon a Scere-Thursday + That our Lord arose; + Full mild were the words + He spake to Judas. + + 2. + 'Iudas, thou most to Iurselem, + oure mete for to bugge; + Thritti platen of selver + thou bere up othi rugge. + + 2. + 'Judas, thou must to Jerusalem, + Our meat for to buy; + Thirty plates of silver + Bear thou upon thy back. + + 3. + 'Thou comest fer ithe brode stret, + fer ithe brode strete, + Summe of thine tunesmen + ther thou meist i-mete.' + + 3. + 'Come thou far in the broad street, + Far in the broad street, + Some of thy townsmen + Where thou might'st meet.' + + 4. + Imette wid is soster, + the swikele wimon: + 'Iudas, thou were wrthe + me stende the wid ston, + For the false prophete + that tou bilevest upon.' + + 4. + Being met with his sister, + The treacherous woman: + 'Judas, thou wert worthy + One should have stoned thee with stone. + For the false prophet + That thou believest upon.' + + 5. + 'Be stille, leve soster, + thin herte the to-breke! + Wiste min loverd Crist, + ful wel he wolde be wreke.' + + 5. + 'Be still, dear sister, + May thine heart burst thee in twain! + Did my Lord Christ know, + Full well would he be avenged.' + + 6. + 'Iudas, go thou on the roc, + heie up on the ston; + Lei thin heved i my barm, + slep thou the anon.' + + 6. + 'Judas, go thou on the rock, + High up on the stone; + Lay thine head in my bosom, + Sleep thou anon.' + + 7. + Sone so Iudas + of slepe was awake, + Thritti platen of selver + from hym weren itake. + + 7. + So soon as Judas + From sleep was awake, + Thirty plates of silver + From him were taken. + + 8. + He drou hym selve bi the cop + that al it lavede ablode: + The Iewes out of Iurselem + awenden he were wode. + + 8. + He drew himself by the head + So that it all ran with blood, + The Jews out of Jerusalem + Thought he was mad. + + 9. + Foret hym com the riche Ieu + that heiste Pilatus: + 'Wolte sulle thi loverd + that hette Iesus?' + + 9. + Forth to him came the rich Jew, + That hight Pilatus; + 'Wilt thou sell thy Lord, + That hight Jesus?' + + 10. + 'I nul sulle my loverd + for nones cunnes eiste, + Bote hit be for the thritti platen + that he me bi taiste.' + + 10. + 'I will not sell my Lord + For no kind of goods, + Except it be for the thirty plates + That he entrusted to me.' + + 11. + 'Wolte sulle thi lord Crist + for enes cunnes golde?' + 'Nay, bote hit be for the platen + that he habben wolde.' + + 11. + 'Wilt thou sell thy Lord Christ + For any kind of gold?' + 'Nay, except it be for the plates + That he wished to have.' + + 12. + In him com ur lord gon + as is postles seten at mete: + 'Wou sitte ye, postles, + ant wi nule ye ete? + Ic am iboust ant isold + today for oure mete.' + + 12. + In came our Lord walking + As his apostles sat at meat: + 'How sit ye, apostles, + And why will ye not eat? + I am bought and sold + To-day for our meat.' + + 13. + Up stod him Iudas: + 'Lord, am I that [frek]? + I nas never othe stude + ther me the evel spec.' + + 13. + Up stood Judas: + 'Lord, am I that man? + I was never in the place + Where I spake evil of thee.' + + 14. + Up him stod Peter, + ant spec wid al is miste: + 'Thau Pilatus him come + wid ten hundred cnistes, + Yet Ic wolde, loverd, + for thi love fiste.' + + 14. + Up stood Peter, + And spoke with all his might: + 'Though Pilate should come + With ten hundred knights, + Yet I would, Lord, + For thy love fight.' + + 15. + 'Still thou be, Peter; + well I the icnowe; + Thou wolt fur sake me thrien + ar the coc him crowe.' + + 15. + 'Still be thou, Peter; + Well I thee know; + Thou wilt forsake me thrice + Ere the cock crow.' + + + [Annotations: + 1.1: 'Scere-thorsday,' the Thursday before Easter. + 2.3 (paraphrase): 'plates,' pieces. + 6.3: 'barm,' lap, bosom: cp. the romance of _King Horn_ + (_E.E.T.S._, 1866), ll. 705-6, + 'He fond Horn in arme + On Rymenhilde barme.' + 8.1: 'drou,' past tense of _draw_. + 8.1 (paraphrase): _i.e._ he tore his hair. + 12.1: 'gon' is infinitive; 'cam gon' = he came on foot, or perhaps + at a foot-pace. This curious construction is only used with + verbs of motion. Cp. the Homeric =be: d' imenai=. + 13.2: 'frek,' man: Skeat's suggestion. + 13.3: 'nas' = ne was.] + + + + +THE MAID AND THE PALMER + + ++The Text+ is from the Percy Folio MS. The only other known text is a +fragment from Sir Walter Scott's recollection, printed in C. K. Sharpe's +_Ballad Book_. + + ++The Story+ is well known in the folklore of Europe, and is especially +common in the Scandinavian languages. As a rule, however, all these +ballads blend the story of the woman of Samaria with the traditions +concerning Mary Magdalen that were extant in mediaeval times. + +From the present ballad it could hardly be gathered (except, perhaps, +from stanza 11) that the old palmer represents Christ. This point is at +once obvious in the Scandinavian and other ballads. + +The extraordinary burden in the English ballad is one of the most +elaborate in existence, and is quite as inexplicable as any. + +The expression 'to lead an ape in hell' (14.2) occurs constantly in +Elizabethan and later literature, always in connection with women who +die, or expect to die, unmarried. Dyce says the expression 'never has +been (and _never will be_) satisfactorily explained'; but it was +suggested by Steevens that women who had no mate on earth should adopt +in hell an ape as a substitute. + + +THE MAID AND THE PALMER + + 1. + The maid shee went to the well to washe, + _Lillumwham, Lillumwham_ + The mayd shee went to the well to washe, + _Whatt then, what then?_ + The maid shee went to the well to washe, + Dew ffell of her lilly white fleshe. + _Grandam boy, grandam boy, heye!_ + _Leg a derry Leg a merry mett mer whoope whir_ + _Drivance, Larumben, Grandam boy, heye!_ + + 2. + White shee washed & white shee ronge, + White shee hang'd o' the hazle wand. + + 3. + There came an old palmer by the way, + Sais, 'God speed thee well, thou faire maid. + + 4. + 'Hast either cupp or can, + To give an old palmer drinke therin?' + + 5. + Sayes, 'I have neither cupp nor cann, + To give an old palmer drinke therin.' + + 6. + 'But an thy lemman came from Roome, + Cuppes & cannes thou wold ffind soone.' + + 7. + Shee sware by God & good St. John, + Lemman had shee never none. + + 8. + Saies, 'Peace, ffaire mayd, you are fforsworne; + Nine children you have borne. + + 9. + 'Three were buryed under thy bed's head; + Other three under thy brewing leade; + + 10. + 'Other three on yon play greene; + Count, maide, & there be nine.' + + 11. + 'But I hope you are the good old man + That all the world beleeves upon. + + 12. + 'Old palmer, I pray thee, + Pennaunce that thou wilt give to me.' + + 13. + 'Penance I can give thee none, + But seven yeere to be a stepping-stone. + + 14. + 'Other seaven a clapper in a bell; + Other seven to lead an ape in hell. + + 15. + 'When thou hast thy penance done, + Then thou'st come a mayden home.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.1,2: 'White': so in the MS.; perhaps should be 'while' in each + case. 'washed' is _washee_ in the MS. + 9.1: 'Three,' Percy's emendation of _They_ in the MS. + 9.2: 'leade,' vat. + 10.1: 'yon': MS. _won_. + 10.2: '&' for _and_=] + + + + +LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT + + ++The Text+ is taken from Buchan's _Ballads of the North of Scotland_, +where it is entitled _The Gowans sae gay_. This ballad is much better +known in another form, _May Colvin_ (_Collin_, _Collean_). + + ++The Story.+--Professor Child says, 'Of all ballads this has perhaps +obtained the widest circulation,' and devotes thirty-two pages to its +introduction. Known in the south as well as in the north of Europe, the +Germans and Scandinavians preserve it in fuller and more ancient forms +than the Latin nations. + +In the still popular Dutch ballad _Halewijn_, Heer Halewijn sings so +sweetly that the king's daughter asks leave to go to him. Her father, +mother, and sister remind her that those who have gone to him have never +returned; her brother says he does not care where she goes, if she +retains her honour. She makes an elaborate toilet, takes the best horse +in the king's stables, and joins Halewijn in the wood. They ride till +they come to a gallows with many women hanged upon it. Halewijn offers +her the choice of the means of her death, because she is fairest of all. +She says she will choose the sword, but that Halewijn had better take +off his coat, as it would be a pity to splash it with her blood. As he +takes it off, she cuts off his head, which, however, continues to talk, +suggesting she should blow his horn to warn his friends. She does not +fall into this rather obvious trap, nor will she agree to his suggestion +that she should rub his neck with a certain ointment. As she rides home, +she meets Halewijn's mother, and tells her he is dead. She is received +back with great honour and affection in her father's castle. + +This is the best form of the story, but many others only a little less +full are found in Flanders, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland, Germany +(nearly thirty variants which fall into three main divisions found +respectively in North-West, South, and North-East Germany), Poland +(where it is extraordinarily common), Bohemia, Servia, France, North +Italy, Spain, and Portugal; and a Magyar ballad bears a certain +resemblance. On the whole, the English ballad here printed (but not _May +Colvin_) and the Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian ballads, would seem to +be the best preserved, on account of their retention of the primary +notion, that the maid first charms the knight to sleep and then binds +him. In _May Colvin_ and many of the other European versions, the knight +bids her strip off her gown; she asks him to turn away his face as she +does so, and when he is not looking, she pushes him into the river or +sea. + +The remarkable likeness existing between the names of the knight in the +many languages, _e.g._ Halewijn (_Dutch_), Ulver, Olmar, Hollemen +(_Danish_), Olbert (_German_), and Elf-knight in English, has caused +some speculation as to a common origin. Professor Bugge has gone so far +as to conjecture that the whole story is an offshoot of the tale of +Judith and Holofernes, the latter name being the originals of the +variants given above. While this hypothesis is perhaps too startling to +be accepted without further evidence, it must be allowed that there are +resemblances in the two stories; and as for the metamorphosis of +Holofernes into Halewijn or Olbert, it is at once apparent that such +changes are quite within the possibilities of phonetic tradition; and +any one who is unwilling to credit this should recollect the Scottish +'keepach' and 'dreeach' (used together or separately), which are +derived, almost beyond belief, from 'hypochondriac.' + +_May Colvin_ is one of the few ancient ballads still kept in print in +broadside form. + + +LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT + + 1. + Fair lady Isabel sits in her bower sewing, + _Aye as the gowans grow gay_ + There she heard an elf-knight blawing his horn. + _The first morning in May_ + + 2. + 'If I had yon horn that I hear blawing, + And yon elf-knight to sleep in my bosom.' + + 3. + This maiden had scarcely these words spoken, + Till in at her window the elf-knight has luppen. + + 4. + 'It's a very strange matter, fair maiden,' said he, + 'I canna blaw my horn but ye call on me. + + 5. + 'But will ye go to yon greenwood side? + If ye canna gang, I will cause you to ride.' + + 6. + He leapt on a horse, and she on another, + And they rode on to the greenwood together. + + 7. + 'Light down, light down, Lady Isabel,' said he, + 'We are come to the place where you are to die.' + + 8. + 'Hae mercy, hae mercy, kind sir, on me, + Till ance my dear father and mother I see.' + + 9. + 'Seven king's-daughters here hae I slain, + And ye shall be the eight o' them.' + + 10. + 'O sit down a while, lay your head on my knee, + That we may hae some rest before that I die.' + + 11. + She stroak'd him sae fast, the nearer he did creep, + Wi' a sma' charm she lull'd him fast asleep. + + 12. + Wi' his ain sword-belt sae fast as she ban him, + Wi' his ain dag-durk sae sair as she dang him. + + 13. + 'If seven king's-daughters here ye hae slain, + Lye ye here, a husband to them a'.' + + + [Annotations: + 10.1: 'yon': MS. _won_. + 10.2: '&' for _and_ = + 12.1: 'ban,' bound. + 12.2: 'dag-durk,' dagger.] + + + + +A NOBLE RIDDLE WISELY EXPOUNDED + + ++The Text+ is from a broadside of the seventeenth century from the press +of Coles, Vere, Wright, and Clarke, now preserved in the Rawlinson +collection in the Bodleian Library. + + ++The Story+ of this ballad is one of the common class of riddle-ballads. +Some of these riddles are found also in _Captain Wedderburn_. + +It is not clear why in 18.1 'poyson is greener than the grass.' In +_Captain Wedderburn_ (17.1) it is 'death' that is greener than the +grass, which is equally inexplicable. A variant of the latter gives +'virgus' [= verjuice], a kind of vinegar, which obviously means 'green +juice.' It is possible that this might come to be regarded as a synonym +for 'poyson'; and the next step is to substitute 'death' for 'poyson.' + + +A NOBLE RIDDLE WISELY EXPOUNDED + + 1. + There was a lady of the North Country, + _Lay the bent to the bonny broom_ + And she had lovely daughters three. + _Fa la la la, fa la la la ra re_ + + 2. + There was a knight of noble worth + Which also lived in the North. + + 3. + The knight, of courage stout and brave, + A wife he did desire to have. + + 4. + He knocked at the ladie's gate + One evening when it was late. + + 5. + The eldest sister let him in, + And pin'd the door with a silver pin. + + 6. + The second sister she made his bed, + And laid soft pillows under his head. + + 7. + The youngest daughter that same night, + She went to bed with this young knight. + + 8. + And in the morning, when it was day, + These words unto him she did say: + + 9. + 'Now you have had your will,' quoth she, + 'I pray, sir knight, will you marry me?' + + 10. + The young brave knight to her replyed, + 'Thy suit, fair maid, shall not be deny'd: + + 11. + 'If thou canst answer me questions three, + This very day will I marry thee.' + + 12. + 'Kind sir, in love, O then,' quoth she, + 'Tell me what your three questions be.' + + 13. + 'O what is longer than the way, + Or what is deeper than the sea? + + 14. + 'Or what is louder than the horn, + Or what is sharper than a thorn? + + 15. + 'Or what is greener than the grass, + Or what is worse than a woman was?' + + 16. + 'O love is longer than the way, + And hell is deeper than the sea. + + 17. + 'And thunder is louder than the horn, + And hunger is sharper than a thorn. + + 18. + 'And poyson is greener than the grass, + And the Devil is worse than woman was.' + + 19. + When she these questions answered had, + The knight became exceeding glad. + + 20. + And having truly try'd her wit, + He much commended her for it. + + 21. + And after, as it is verifi'd, + He made of her his lovely bride. + + 22. + So now, fair maidens all, adieu, + This song I dedicate to you. + + 23. + I wish that you may constant prove + Vnto the man that you do love. + + + [Annotation: + 5.1: The broadsides all give 'youngest' for 'eldest.'] + + + + +CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN + + ++The Text+ is from Kinloch's MSS., where it was written down from the +recitation of Mary Barr: it is entitled 'The Earl of Rosslyn's +Daughter.' + + ++The Story+ is the converse of _A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded_, in +which the maid wins a husband by riddles; in the present one the captain +out-riddles the maid. Similar tales are very popular in many lands, +being found in Persia, Russia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, +Lithuania, East Siberia, etc. + +Most of the lady's riddles are found in an old English song, and its +traditional derivatives. The song, which is given below, is found in +Sloane MS. 2593, which contains other carols and ballads (see pp. +123-8)[A]. From this is derived the nursery song beginning-- + + 'I had four brothers over the sea' + +(with many variations:-- 'four sisters,' 'six lovers,' 'a true lover'), +and with a curious half-Latin refrain which varies between + + _Para-mara, dictum, domine,_ + +and + + _Peri-meri, dixi, domine._ + +The following is the song referred to above. It was twice printed by +T. Wright from the fifteenth-century MS. + + [[A] Transcriber's Note: + Pp. 123-128: "Adam" (123) and "Saint Stephen and King Herod" (125).] + + + 1. + I have a yong suster + fer beyondyn the se; + Many be the drowryis + that che sente me. + + 2. + Che sente me the cherye, + withoutyn ony ston, + And so che dede [the] dowe, + withoutyn ony bon. + + 3. + Sche sente me the brere, + withoutyn ony rynde, + Sche bad me love my lemman + withoute longgyng. + + 4. + How xuld ony cherye + be withoute ston? + And how xuld ony dowe + ben withoute bon? + + 5. + How xuld any brere + ben withoute rynde? + How xuld I love my lemman + without longyng? + + 6. + Quan the cherye was a flour, + than hadde it non ston; + Quan the dowe was an ey, + than hadde it non bon. + + 7. + Quan the brere was onbred, + than hadde it non rynd; + Quan the mayden hayt that che lovit, + che is without longing. + + + [Annotations: + 1.3: 'drowryis' = druries, keepsakes. + 2.3: 'dowe,' dove. + 3.1: 'brere,' brier: here perhaps the 'hip' of the dog-rose + (see 7.1). + 3.3: 'lemman,' sweetheart. + 4.1: etc. 'xuld' = should. + 6.3: 'ey,' egg. + 7.3: 'hayt that che lovit,' has what she loves.] + + + + +CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN + + 1. + The Lord of Rosslyn's daughter gaed through the wud her lane, + And there she met Captain Wedderburn, a servant to the king. + He said unto his livery man, 'Were 't na agen the law, + I wad tak her to my ain bed, and lay her at the wa'.' + + 2. + 'I'm walking here my lane,' she says, 'amang my father's trees; + And ye may lat me walk my lane, kind sir, now gin ye please. + The supper-bell it will be rung, and I'll be miss'd awa'; + Sae I'll na lie in your bed, at neither stock nor wa'.' + + 3. + He said, 'My pretty lady, I pray lend me your hand, + And ye'll hae drums and trumpets always at your command; + And fifty men to guard ye wi', that weel their swords can draw; + Sae we'll baith lie in ae bed, and ye'll lie at the wa'.' + + 4. + 'Haud awa' frae me, kind sir, I pray lat go my hand; + The supper-bell it will be rung, nae langer maun I stand. + My father he'll na supper tak, gif I be miss'd awa'; + Sae I'll na lie in your bed, at neither stock nor wa'.' + + 5. + 'O my name is Captain Wedderburn, my name I'll ne'er deny, + And I command ten thousand men, upo' yon mountains high. + Tho' your father and his men were here, of them I'd stand na awe, + But should tak ye to my ain bed, and lay ye neist the wa'.' + + 6. + Then he lap aff his milk-white steed, and set the lady on, + And a' the way he walk'd on foot, he held her by the hand; + He held her by the middle jimp, for fear that she should fa'; + Saying, 'I'll tak ye to my ain bed, and lay thee at the wa'.' + + 7. + He took her to his quartering-house, his landlady looked ben, + Saying, 'Monie a pretty ladie in Edinbruch I've seen; + But sic 'na pretty ladie is not into it a': + Gae, mak for her a fine down-bed, and lay her at the wa'.' + + 8. + 'O haud awa' frae me, kind sir, I pray ye lat me be, + For I'll na lie in your bed till I get dishes three; + Dishes three maun be dress'd for me, gif I should eat them a', + Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'. + + 9. + 'Tis I maun hae to my supper a chicken without a bane; + And I maun hae to my supper a cherry without a stane; + And I maun hae to my supper a bird without a gaw, + Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'.' + + 10. + 'Whan the chicken's in the shell, I'm sure it has na bane; + And whan the cherry's in the bloom, I wat it has na stane; + The dove she is a genty bird, she flees without a gaw; + Sae we'll baith lie in ae bed, and ye'll be at the wa'.' + + 11. + 'O haud awa' frae me, kind sir, I pray ye give me owre, + For I'll na lie in your bed, till I get presents four; + Presents four ye maun gie me, and that is twa and twa, + Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'. + + 12. + 'Tis I maun hae some winter fruit that in December grew, + And I maun hae a silk mantil that waft gaed never through; + A sparrow's horn, a priest unborn, this nicht to join us twa, + Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'.' + + 13. + 'My father has some winter fruit that in December grew; + My mither has a silk mantil the waft gaed never through; + A sparrow's horn ye soon may find, there's ane on ev'ry claw, + And twa upo' the gab o' it, and ye shall get them a'. + + 14. + 'The priest he stands without the yett, just ready to come in; + Nae man can say he e'er was born, nae man without he sin; + He was haill cut frae his mither's side, and frae the same let fa': + Sae we'll baith lie in ae bed, and ye'se lie at the wa'.' + + 15. + 'O haud awa' frae me, kind sir, I pray don't me perplex, + For I'll na lie in your bed till ye answer questions six: + Questions six ye maun answer me, and that is four and twa, + Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'. + + 16. + 'O what is greener than the gress, what's higher than thae trees? + O what is worse than women's wish, what's deeper than the seas? + What bird craws first, what tree buds first, what first does on +them fa'? + Before I lie in your bed, at either stock or wa'.' + + 17. + 'Death is greener than the gress, heaven higher than thae trees; + The devil's waur than women's wish, hell's deeper than the seas; + The cock craws first, the cedar buds first, dew first on them +does fa'; + Sae we'll baith lie in ae bed, and ye'se lie at the wa',' + + 18. + Little did this lady think, that morning whan she raise, + That this was for to be the last o' a' her maiden days. + But there's na into the king's realm to be found a blither twa, + And now she's Mrs. Wedderburn, and she lies at the wa'. + + + [Annotations: + 2.4: The 'stock' of a bed is the outer side, and the 'wa'' + (= wall) the inner. Ancient beds were made like boxes with the + outer side cut away. + 7.1: 'quartering-house,' lodging-house. + 9.3: 'gaw,' gall. It is an ancient superstition that the dove or + pigeon has no gall, the fact being that the gall-bladder is + absent. See Sir Thomas Browne's _Pseudodoxia Epidemica_, iii. 3. + 10.3: 'genty,' neat, limber. --Jamieson. + 14.1: 'yett,' gate.] + + + + +THE ELPHIN KNIGHT + + ++The Text+ is from a broadside in black letter in the Pepysian Library +at Cambridge; bound up at the end of a book published in 1673. + + ++The Story+ of this ballad but poorly represents the complete form of +the story as exhibited in many German and other ballads, where alternate +bargaining and riddling ensues between a man and a maid. This long +series of ballads is akin to the still longer series in which the person +upon whom an impossible task is imposed is considered to have got the +mastery by retaliating with another impossible task. + +The opening stanzas of this ballad correspond closely with those of +_Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight_. + + +THE ELPHIN KNIGHT + + _My plaid awa, my plaid awa,_ + _And ore the hill and far awa,_ + _And far awa to Norrowa,_ + _My plaid shall not be blown awa._ + + 1. + The elphin knight sits on yon hill, + _Ba, ba, ba, lilli-ba_ + He blaws his horn both lowd and shril. + _The wind hath blown my plaid awa_ + + 2. + He blowes it east, he blowes it west, + He blowes it where he lyketh best. + + 3. + 'I wish that horn were in my kist, + Yea, and the knight in my armes two.' + + 4. + She had no sooner these words said, + When that the knight came to her bed. + + 5. + 'Thou art over young a maid,' quoth he, + 'Married with me thou il wouldst be.' + + 6. + 'I have a sister younger than I, + And she was married yesterday.' + + 7. + 'Married with me if thou wouldst be, + A courtesie thou must do to me. + + 8. + 'For thou must shape a sark to me, + Without any cut or heme,' quoth he. + + 9. + 'Thou must shape it knife-and-sheerlesse, + And also sue it needle-threedlesse.' + + 10. + 'If that piece of courtesie I do to thee, + Another thou must do to me. + + 11. + 'I have an aiker of good ley-land, + Which lyeth low by yon sea-strand. + + 12. + 'For thou must eare it with thy horn, + So thou must sow it with thy corn. + + 13. + 'And bigg a cart of stone and lyme, + Robin Redbreast he must trail it hame. + + 14. + 'Thou must barn it in a mouse-holl, + And thrash it into thy shoe's soll. + + 15. + 'And thou must winnow it in thy looff, + And also seek it in thy glove. + + 16. + 'For thou must bring it over the sea, + And thou must bring it dry home to me. + + 17. + 'When thou hast gotten thy turns well done, + Then come to me and get thy sark then.' + + 18. + 'I'll not quite my plaid for my life; + It haps my seven bairns and my wife.' + _The wind shall not blow my plaid awa_ + + 19. + 'My maidenhead I'l then keep still, + Let the elphin knight do what he will.' + _The wind's not blown my plaid awa_ + + + [Annotations: + 3.1: 'kist,' chest. + 8.1: 'sark,' shirt. + 12.1: 'eare,' plough. + 13.1: 'bigg,' build. + 15.1: 'looff,' palm. + 15.2: 'seek,' sack.] + + + + +KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT + + ++The Text+ here printed is taken from Percy's _Reliques_ (1765), vol. +ii. p. 302, etc. He compiled his ballad from a broadside and another +copy, _Kinge John and Bishoppe_, that he found in his Folio MS.; and +since he made it a much more readable ballad than either of his +originals, it is reproduced here. + + ++The Story.+--Riddles asked by a monarch of one of his dependants, and +answered by a third person assuming the guise of the person questioned, +form the subject of many ancient tales. In Sacchetti's _Novelle_ we find +both the abbot and his representative, a miller, who answers Bernabo +Visconti the four questions, How far is it to heaven? How much water is +there in the sea? What is going on in hell? What is the value of my +person? The answers to the first two of these are given simply in large +numbers and Bernabo told to measure for himself if he does not believe +them. The value of Bernabo's person is estimated, as in our ballad, at +one piece less than our Lord. + +Another favourite question in these ballads is, Where is the centre of +the earth? The answer is given by the man planting his staff and saying, +'Here: prove it wrong if you can.' + +In the Percy Folio version, the shepherd is the half-brother of the +abbot. + + +KING JOHN AND THE ABBOT OF CANTERBURY + + 1. + An ancient story Ile tell you anon + Of a notable prince, that was called King John; + And he ruled England with maine and with might, + For he did great wrong, and maintein'd little right. + + 2. + And Ile tell you a story, a story so merrye, + Concerning the Abbot of Canterburye; + How for his house-keeping, and high renowne, + They rode post for him to London towne. + + 3. + An hundred men, the king did heare say, + The abbot kept in his house every day; + And fifty golde chaynes, without any doubt, + In velvet coates waited the abbot about. + + 4. + 'How now, father abbot, I heare it of thee, + Thou keepest a far better house than mee, + And for thy house-keeping and high renowne, + I feare thou work'st treason against my crown.' + + 5. + 'My liege,' quo' the abbot, 'I would it were knowne, + I never spend nothing but what is my owne; + And I trust, your grace will do me no deere, + For spending of my owne true-gotten geere.' + + 6. + 'Yes, yes, father abbot, thy fault it is highe, + And now for the same thou needest must dye; + For except thou canst answer me questions three, + Thy head shall be smitten from thy bodie. + + 7. + 'And first,' quo' the king, 'when I'm in this stead, + With my crowne of golde so faire on my head, + Among all my liege-men so noble of birthe + Thou must tell me to one penny what I am worthe. + + 8. + 'Secondlye, tell me, without any doubt, + How soone I may ride the whole world about; + And at the third question thou must not shrink, + But tell me here truly what I do think.' + + 9. + 'O, these are hard questions for my shallow witt, + Nor I cannot answer your grace as yet; + But if you will give me but three weekes space, + Ile do my endeavour to answer your grace.' + + 10. + 'Now three weeks space to thee will I give. + And that is the longest time thou hast to live; + For if thou dost not answer my questions three, + Thy lands and thy livings are forfeit to mee.' + + 11. + Away rode the abbot all sad at that word, + And he rode to Cambridge, and Oxenford; + But never a doctor there was so wise, + That could with his learning an answer devise. + + 12. + Then home rode the abbot of comfort so cold, + And he mett his shepheard a going to fold: + 'How now, my lord abbot, you are welcome home; + What newes do you bring us from good king John?' + + 13. + 'Sad newes, sad newes, shepheard, I must give; + That I have but three days more to live: + For if I do not answer him questions three, + My head will be smitten from my bodie. + + 14. + 'The first is to tell him there in that stead, + With his crowne of golde so fair on his head, + Among all his liege men so noble of birth, + To within one penny of what he is worth. + + 15. + 'The seconde, to tell him, without any doubt, + How soone he may ride this whole world about: + And at the third question I must not shrinke, + But tell him there truly what he does thinke.' + + 16. + 'Now cheare up, sire abbot, did you never hear yet, + That a fool he may learn a wise man witt? + Lend me horse, and serving-men, and your apparel. + And I'll ride to London to answere your quarrel. + + 17. + 'Nay frowne not, if it hath been told unto mee, + I am like your lordship as ever may bee: + And if you will but lend me your gowne, + There is none shall knowe us at fair London towne.' + + 18. + 'Now horses, and serving-men thou shalt have, + With sumptuous array most gallant and brave; + With crozier, and miter, and rochet, and cope, + Fit to appeare 'fore our fader the pope.' + + 19. + 'Now welcome, sire abbot,' the king he did say, + ''Tis well thou'rt come back to keepe thy day; + For an if thou canst answer my questions three, + Thy life and thy living both saved shall be. + + 20. + 'And first, when thou seest me here in this stead, + With my crown of golde so fair on my head, + Among all my liege-men so noble of birthe, + Tell me to one penny what I am worth.' + + 21. + 'For thirty pence our Saviour was sold + Amonge the false Jewes, as I have bin told; + And twenty nine is the worth of thee, + For I thinke, thou art one penny worser than he.' + + 22. + The king he laughed, and swore by St. Bittel, + 'I did not think I had been worth so littel! + --Now secondly tell me, without any doubt, + How soone I may ride this whole world about.' + + 23. + 'You must rise with the sun, and ride with the same, + Until the next morning he riseth againe; + And then your grace need not make any doubt, + But in twenty-four hours you'll ride it about.' + + 24. + The king he laughed, and swore by St. Jone, + 'I did not think it could be gone so soone! + --Now from the third question thou must not shrinke, + But tell me here truly what I do thinke.' + + 25. + 'Yea, that I shall do, and make your grace merry: + You thinke I'm the abbot of Canterburye; + But I'm his poor shepheard, as plain you may see, + That am come to beg pardon for him and for me.' + + 26. + The king he laughed, and swore by the masse, + 'Ile make thee lord abbot this day in his place!' + 'Now naye, my liege, be not in such speede, + For alacke I can neither write, ne reade.' + + 27. + 'Four nobles a weeke, then I will give thee, + For this merry jest thou hast showne unto mee; + And tell the old abbot when thou comest home, + Thou hast brought him a pardon from good king John.' + + + [Annotations: + 5.3: 'deere,' harm. + 5.3: 'deere,' harm. + 22.1: 'Meaning probably St. Botolph.' --_Percy's note._ But the + Folio gives St. Andrew, so that it is Percy's own emendation.] + + + + +THE FAUSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD + + ++The Text+ is taken from the Introduction to Motherwell's _Minstrelsy_, +p. lxxiv. + + ++The Story+ appears to be a conversation between a wee boy and the +devil, the latter under the guise of a knight. The boy will be carried +off unless he can 'have the last word,' a charm of great power against +all evil spirits. + +A very similar ballad, of repartees between an old crone and a wee boy, +was found at the Lappfiord, Finland. + + +THE FAUSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD + + 1. + 'O whare are ye gaun?' + _Quo the fause knicht upon the road:_ + 'I'm gaun to the scule,' + _Quo' the wee boy, and still he stude._ + + 2. + 'What is that upon your back?' + 'Atweel it is my bukes.' + + 3. + 'What's that ye've got in your arm?' + 'Atweel it is my peit.' + + 4. + 'Wha's aucht they sheep?' + 'They're mine and my mither's.' + + 5. + 'How monie o' them are mine?' + 'A' they that hae blue tails.' + + 6. + 'I wiss ye were on yon tree:' + 'And a gude ladder under me.' + + 7. + 'And the ladder for to break:' + 'And you for to fa' down.' + + 8. + 'I wiss ye were in yon sie:' + 'And a gude bottom under me.' + + 9. + 'And the bottom for to break:' + 'And ye to be drowned.' + + + [Annotations: + 2.2: 'Atweel,' = I wot well, truly. + 3.2: 'peit,' peat, carried to school to contribute to the fire. + 4.1: 'Wha's aucht,' who owns.] + + + + +THE LORD OF LEARNE + + ++The Text+ is from the Percy Folio MS., with the spelling modernised, +except in two or three instances for the sake of the rhyme (13.4) or +metre (102.2). Other alterations, as suggested by Child, are noted. +Apart from the irregularities of metre, this ballad is remarkable for +the large proportion of 'e' rhymes, which are found in 71 stanzas, or +two-thirds of the whole. The redundant 'that,' which is a feature of the +Percy Folio, also occurs frequently--in eleven places, three of which +are in optative sentences (8.2, 14.4, 91.4). + +The ballad is more commonly known as _The Lord of Lorne_, under which +title we find it registered in the Stationers' Company on October 6, +1580. Guilpin refers to it in his _Skialethia_ (1598), Satire 1, ll. +107-108:-- + + '... the old ballad of the Lord of Lorne + Whose last line in King Harry's day was born.' + +Probably this implies little more than that the ballad was known in +Henry VIII.'s day. Three broadsides are known, two in the Roxburghe and +one in the Pepys collection. Both the Roxburghe ballads are later than +the Folio version. + + ++The Story+ is derived from that of _Roswall and Lillian_. Roswall, the +king's son, of Naples, overhearing three lords bewailing their long +imprisonment, promised to set them free, and did so by stealing the keys +from under the king's pillow at night. The king, on hearing of their +escape, vowed to slay at sight the man who had set them free. The queen, +however, interceding for her son, Roswall was banished under charge of a +steward. From this point our ballad follows the romance fairly closely. +Roswall and the steward, after changing places, entered the kingdom of +Bealm. At length Roswall, under the name Dissawar (see 29.2, etc.), +became chamberlain to the Princess Lillian, and she fell in love with +him. The King of Bealm meanwhile sent to the King of Naples, proposing +to wed his daughter to the young prince of Naples, and the Neapolitan +king assented. A joust was proclaimed, and Lillian told Dissawar to +joust for her; but he preferred to go a-hunting. However, in the wood he +found the three knights he had helped to escape, and they equipped him +for the three days' tourney, in which he defeated the steward. He did +not, however, proclaim himself, and Lillian was forced to ask the king +herself for Dissawar; but her father married her to the steward. During +the wedding feast the three Neapolitan lords appeared, but would not +acknowledge the steward as their prince, and went in search of Roswall, +who told the king of the steward's treachery, and announced himself to +be the victor of the jousts. The steward was hanged and Roswall married +to Lillian. + +Other romances and stories exist, with similar foundations, especially +amongst the Slavic nations. But the best known is the _Goose-girl_ (_Die +Gaense-magd_) of the Grimms, where the sexes are reversed. A connection +may be traced between the horse Falada's head and the gelding of the +ballad; and the trick of a person, who is sworn to secrecy, divulging +the secret to some object (as the gelding, here; but more often a stove +or oven) in the presence of witnesses has obtained a wide vogue. + + +THE LORD OF LEARNE + + 1. + It was the worthy lord of Learne, + He was a lord of a high degree; + He had no more children but one son, + He set him to school to learn courtesy. + + 2. + Learning did so proceed with that child-- + I tell you all in verity-- + He learned more upon one day + Than other children did on three. + + 3. + And then bespake the school-master, + Unto the lord of Learne said he, + 'I think thou be some stranger born, + For the Holy Ghost remains with thee.' + + 4. + He said, 'I am no stranger born, + Forsooth, master, I tell it to thee, + It is a gift of Almighty God + Which He hath given unto me.' + + 5. + The school-master turn'd him round about, + His angry mind he thought to assuage, + For the child could answer him so quickly, + And was of so tender year of age. + + 6. + The child, he caused a steed to be brought, + A golden bridle done him upon; + He took his leave of his schoolfellows, + And home the child that he is gone. + + 7. + And when he came before his father, + He fell low down upon his knee, + 'My blessing, father, I would ask, + If Christ would grant you would give it me.' + + 8. + 'Now God thee bless, my son and my heir, + His servant in heaven that thou may be! + What tidings hast thou brought me, child, + Thou art comen home so soon to me?' + + 9. + 'Good tidings, father, I have you brought, + Good tidings I hope it is to me; + The book is not in all Scotland, + But I can read it before your eye.' + + 10. + A joyed man his father was, + Even the worthy lord of Learne; + 'Thou shalt go into France, my child, + The speeches of all strange lands to learn.' + + 11. + But then bespake the child his mother-- + The lady of Learne and then was she-- + Says, 'Who must be his well good guide, + When he goes into that strange country?' + + 12. + And then bespake that bonny child + Untill his father tenderly, + Says, 'Father, I'll have the hend steward, + For he hath been true to you and me.' + + 13. + The lady to counsel the steward did take, + And counted down a hundred pounds there, + Says, 'Steward, be true to my son and my heir, + And I will give thee mickle mere.' + + 14. + 'If I be not true to my master,' he said, + 'Christ himself be not true to me! + If I be not true to my lord and master, + An ill death that I may die!' + + 15. + The lord of Learne did apparel his child + With brooch, and ring, and many a thing; + The apparel he had his body upon, + They say was worth a squire's living. + + 16. + The parting of the young lord of Learne + With his father, his mother, his fellows dear, + Would have made a man's heart for to change, + If a Jew born that he were. + + 17. + The wind did serve, and they did sail + Over the sea into France land: + He used the child so hardly, + He would let him have never a penny to spend. + + 18. + And meat he would let the child have none, + Nor money to buy none truly; + The boy was hungry and thirsty both; + Alas! it was the more pity. + + 19. + He laid him down to drink the water + That was so low beneath the brim; + He was wont to have drunk both ale and wine, + Then was fain of the water so thin. + + 20. + And as he was drinking of the water + That ran so low beneath the brim, + So ready was the false steward + To drown the bonny boy therein. + + 21. + 'Have mercy on me, worthy steward! + My life,' he said, 'lend it to me! + And all that I am heir upon,' + Says, 'I will give unto thee.' + + 22. + Mercy to him the steward did take, + And pull'd the child out of the brim; + Ever alack! the more pity, + He took his clothes even from him. + + 23. + Says, 'Do thou me off that velvet gown, + The crimson hose beneath thy knee, + And do me off thy cordivant shoon + Are buckled with the gold so free. + + 24. + 'Do thou me off thy satin doublet, + Thy shirtband wrought with glistering gold, + And do me off thy golden chain + About thy neck so many a fold. + + 25. + 'Do thou me off thy velvet hat + With feather in that is so fine, + All unto thy silken shirt + That's wrought with many a golden seam.' + + 26. + The child before him naked stood, + With skin as white as lily flower; + For his worthy lord's beauty + He might have been a lady's paramour. + + 27. + He put upon him a leather coat, + And breeches of the same beneath the knee, + And sent that bonny child him fro, + Service for to crave, truly. + + 28. + He pull'd then forth a naked sword + That hange[d] full low then by his side, + 'Turn thy name, thou villain,' he said, + 'Or else this sword shall be thy guide.' + + 29. + 'What must be my name, worthy steward? + I pray thee now tell it me.' + 'Thy name shall be poor Disaware, + To tend sheep on a lonely lea.' + + 30. + The bonny child, he went him fro, + And looked to himself truly, + Saw his apparel so simple upon; + O Lord! he weeped tenderly. + + 31. + Unto a shepherd's house that child did go, + And said, 'Sir, God you save and see! + Do you not want a servant boy + To tend your sheep on a lonely lea?' + + 32. + 'Where was thou born?' the shepherd said, + 'Where, my boy, or in what country?' + 'Sir,' he said, 'I was born in fair Scotland + That is so far beyond the sea.' + + 33. + 'I have no child,' the shepherd said, + 'My boy, thou'st tarry and dwell with me; + My living,' he said, 'and all my goods, + I'll make thee heir [of] after me.' + + 34. + And then bespake the shepherd's wife, + To the lord of Learne thus did she say, + 'Go thy way to our sheep,' she said, + 'And tend them well both night and day.' + + 35. + It was a sore office, O Lord, for him + That was a lord born of a great degree! + As he was tending his sheep alone, + Neither sport nor play could he. + + 36. + Let us leave talking of the lord of Learne, + And let all such talking go; + Let us talk more of the false steward + That caused the child all this woe. + + 37. + He sold this lord of Learne his clothes + For five hundred pounds to his pay [there], + And bought himself a suit of apparel, + Might well beseem a lord to wear. + + 38. + When he that gorgeous apparel bought + That did so finely his body upon, + He laughed the bonny child to scorn + That was the bonny lord of Learne. + + 39. + He laughed that bonny boy to scorne; + Lord! pity it was to hear! + I have heard them say, and so have you too, + That a man may buy gold too dear. + + 40. + When that he had all that gorgeous apparel + That did so finely his body upon, + He went a wooing to the duke's daughter of France, + And called himself the lord of Learne. + + 41. + The duke of France heard tell of this; + To his place that worthy lord was come truly; + He entertain'd him with a quart of red Rhenish wine. + Says, 'Lord of Learne, thou art welcome to me!' + + 42. + Then to supper that they were set, + Lords and ladies in their degree; + The steward was set next the duke of France; + An unseemly sight it was to see. + + 43. + Then bespake the duke of France, + Unto the lord of Learne said he there, + Says, 'Lord of Learne, if thou'll marry my daughter, + I'll mend thy living five hundred pounds a year.' + + 44. + Then bespake that lady fair, + Answered her father so alone, + That she would be his married wife + If he would make her Lady of Learne. + + 45. + Then hand in hand the steward her he took, + And plight that lady his troth alone, + That she should be his married wife, + And he would make her the lady of Learne. + + 46. + Thus that night it was gone, + The other day was come truly. + The lady would see the roe-buck run + Up hills and dales and forest free. + + 47. + Then she was ware of the young lord of Learne + Tending sheep under a briar, truly; + And thus she called unto her maids, + And held her hands up thus on high, + Says, 'Fetch me yond shepherd's boy, + I'll know why he doth mourn, truly.' + + 48. + When he came before that lady fair + He fell down upon his knee; + He had been so well brought up + He needed not to learn courtesy. + + 49. + 'Where wast thou born, thou bonny boy, + Where or in what country?' + 'Madam, I was born in fair Scotland, + That is so far beyond the sea.' + + 50. + 'What is thy name, thou bonny boy? + I pray thee tell it unto me.' + 'My name,' he says, 'is poor Disaware, + That tends sheep on a lonely lea.' + + 51. + 'One thing thou must tell me, bonny boy, + Which I must needs ask of thee: + Dost not thou know the young lord of Learne? + He is come a wooing into France to me.' + + 52. + 'Yes, that I do, madam,' he said; + And then he wept most tenderly; + 'The lord of Learne is a worthy lord, + If he were at home in his own country.' + + 53. + 'What ails thee to weep, my bonny boy? + Tell me or ere I part thee fro.' + 'Nothing but for a friend, madam, + That's dead from me many a year ago.' + + 54. + A loud laughter the lady laughed; + O Lord, she smiled wondrous high; + 'I have dwelled in France since I was born; + Such a shepherd's boy I did never see. + + 55. + 'Wilt thou not leave thy sheep, my child, + And come unto service unto me? + And I will give thee meat and fee, + And my chamberlain thou shalt be.' + + 56. + 'Then I will leave my sheep, madam,' he said, + 'And come into service unto thee; + If you will give me meat and fee, + Your chamberlain that I may be.' + + 57. + When the lady came before her father, + She fell low down upon her knee; + 'Grant me, father,' the lady said, + 'This boy my chamberlain to be.' + + 58. + 'But O nay, nay,' the duke did say, + 'So, my daughter, it may not be; + The lord that is come a wooing to you + Will be offended with you and me.' + + 59. + Then came down the false steward + Which called himself the lord of Learne, truly: + When he looked that bonny boy upon, + An angry man i-wis was he. + + 60. + 'Where was thou born, thou vagabond? + 'Where?' he said, 'and in what country?' + Says, 'I was born in fair Scotland + That is so far beyond the sea.' + + 61. + 'What is thy name, thou vagabond? + Have done quickly, and tell it to me.' + 'My name,' he says, 'is poor Disaware; + I tend sheep on the lonely lea.' + 'Thou art a thief,' the steward said, + 'And so in the end I will prove thee.' + + 62. + Then bespake the lady fair, + 'Peace, lord of Learne! I do pray thee; + For if no love you show this child, + No favour can you have of me.' + + 63. + 'Will you believe me, lady fair, + When the truth I do tell ye? + At Aberdonie beyond the sea + His father he robbed a hundred [and] three.' + + 64. + But then bespake the duke of France + Unto the boy so tenderly, + Says, 'Boy, if thou love horses well, + My stable groom I will make thee.' + + 65. + And thus that that did pass upon + Till the twelve months did draw to an end; + The boy applied his office so well, + Every man became his friend. + + 66. + He went forth early one morning + To water a gelding at the water so free; + The gelding up, and with his head + He hit the child above his eye. + + 67. + 'Woe be to thee, thou gelding!' he said, + 'And to the mare that foaled thee! + Thou has stricken the lord of Learne + A little tiny above the eye. + + 68. + 'First night after I was born, a lord I was; + An earl after my father doth die; + My father is the worthy lord of Learne; + His child he hath no more but me; + He sent me over the sea with the false steward, + And thus that he hath beguiled me.' + + 69. + The lady [wa]s in her garden green, + Walking with her maids, truly, + And heard the boy this mourning make, + And went to weeping truly. + + 70. + 'Sing on thy song, thou stable groom, + I pray thee do not let for me, + And as I am a true lady + I will be true unto thee.' + + 71. + 'But nay, now nay, madam!' he said, + 'So that it may not be, + I am ta'en sworn upon a book, + And forsworn I will not be.' + + 72. + 'Sing on thy song to thy gelding + And thou dost not sing to me; + And as I am a true lady + I will ever be true unto thee.' + + 73. + He said, 'Woe be to thee, gelding, + And to the mare that foaled thee! + For thou hast stricken the lord of Learne + A little above mine eye. + + 74. + 'First night I was born, a lord I was; + An earl after my father doth die; + My father is the good lord of Learne, + And child he hath no other but me. + My father sent me over with the false steward, + And thus that he hath beguiled me. + + 75. + 'Woe be to the steward, lady,' he said, + 'Woe be to him verily! + He hath been above this twelve months' day + For to deceive both thee and me. + + 76. + 'If you do not my counsel keep + That I have told you with good intent, + And if you do it not well keep, + Farewell! my life is at an end.' + + 77. + 'I will be true to thee, lord of Learne, + Or else Christ be not so unto me; + And as I am a true lady, + I'll never marry none but thee!' + + 78. + She sent in for her father, the duke, + In all the speed that e'er might be; + 'Put off my wedding, father,' she said, + 'For the love of God, these months three. + + 79. + 'Sick I am,' the lady said, + 'O sick, and very like to die! + Put off my wedding, father duke, + For the love of God, these months three.' + + 80. + The duke of France put off this wedding + Of the steward and the lady, months three; + For the lady sick she was, + Sick, sick, and like to die. + + 81. + She wrote a letter with her own hand, + In all the speed that ever might be; + She sent over into Scotland + That is so far beyond the sea. + + 82. + When the messenger came before the old lord of Learne, + He kneeled low down on his knee, + And he delivered the letter unto him + In all the speed that ever might be. + + 83. + First look he looked the letter upon, + Lo! he wept full bitterly; + The second look he looked it upon, + Said, 'False steward! woe be to thee!' + + 84. + When the lady of Learne these tidings heard, + O Lord! she wept so bitterly: + 'I told you of this, now good my lord, + When I sent my child into that wild country.' + + 85. + 'Peace, lady of Learne,' the lord did say, + 'For Christ his love I do pray thee; + And as I am a Christian man, + Wroken upon him that I will be.' + + 86. + He wrote a letter with his own hand + In all the speed that e'er might be; + He sent it into the lords in Scotland + That were born of a great degree. + + 87. + He sent for lords, he sent for knights, + The best that were in the country, + To go with him into the land of France, + To seek his son in that strange country. + + 88. + The wind was good, and they did sail, + Five hundred men into France land, + There to seek that bonny boy + That was the worthy lord of Learne. + + 89. + They sought the country through and through, + So far to the duke's place of France land: + There they were ware of that bonny boy + Standing with a porter's staff in his hand. + + 90. + Then the worshipful they did bow, + The serving-men fell on their knee, + They cast their hats up into the air + For joy that boy that they did see. + + 91. + The lord of Learne, then he light down, + And kissed his child both cheek and chin, + And said, 'God bless thee, my son and my heir, + The bliss of heaven that thou may win!' + + 92. + The false steward and the duke of France + Were in a castle top truly: + 'What fools are yond,' says the false steward, + 'To the porter makes so low courtesy?' + + 93. + Then bespake the duke of France, + Calling my lord of Learne truly, + He said, 'I doubt the day be come + That either you or I must die.' + + 94. + They set the castle round about, + A swallow could not have flown away; + And there they took the false steward + That the lord of Learne did betray. + + 95. + And when they had taken the false steward, + He fell low down upon his knee, + And craved mercy of the lord of Learne + For the villainous deed he had done, truly. + + 96. + 'Thou shalt have mercy,' said the lord of Learne, + 'Thou vile traitor! I tell to thee, + As the laws of the realm they will thee bear, + Whether it be for thee to live or die.' + + 97. + A quest of lords that there was chosen + To go upon his death, truly: + There they judged the false steward, + Whether he was guilty, and for to die. + + 98. + The foreman of the jury, he came in; + He spake his words full loud and high: + Said, 'Make thee ready, thou false steward, + For now thy death it draws full nigh!' + + 99. + Said he, 'If my death it doth draw nigh, + God forgive me all I have done amiss! + Where is that lady I have loved so long, + Before my death to give me a kiss?' + + 100. + 'Away, thou traitor!' the lady said, + 'Avoid out of my company! + For thy vile treason thou hast wrought, + Thou had need to cry to God for mercy.' + + 101. + First they took him and hang'd him half, + And let him down before he was dead, + And quartered him in quarters many, + And sod him in a boiling lead. + + 102. + And then they took him out again, + And cutten all his joints in sunder, + And burnt him eke upon a hill; + I-wis they did him curstly cumber. + + 103. + A loud laughter the lady laughed; + O Lord! she smiled merrily; + She said, 'I may praise my heavenly King, + That ever I seen this vile traitor die.' + + 104. + Then bespake the duke of France, + Unto the right lord of Learne said he there, + Says, 'Lord of Learne, if thou wilt marry my daughter, + I'll mend thy living five hundred [pounds] a year.' + + 105. + But then bespake that bonny boy, + And answered the duke quickly, + 'I had rather marry your daughter with a ring of gold, + Than all the gold that e'er I blinked on with mine eye.' + + 106. + But then bespake the old lord of Learne, + To the duke of France thus he did say, + 'Seeing our children do so well agree, + They shall be married ere we go away.' + + 107. + The lady of Learne, she was for sent + Throughout Scotland so speedily, + To see these two children set up + In their seats of gold full royally. + + + [Annotations: + 9.2: The line is partly cut away in the MS.: I follow the + suggestion of Hales and Furnivall. + 10.4: In the MS. the line stands: 'To learn the speeches of all + strange lands.' + 12.3: 'hend,' kindly, friendly. + 13.4: 'mere' = more. + 21.2: 'lend,' grant. + 22.3: 'Even,' MS. + 23.1: etc. 'Do thou off,' take off. + 23.3: 'cordivant' = cordwain, leather from Cordova, in Spain. See + _Brown Robin_, 17.4, First Series, p. 161. + 25.4: 'Seam': Child's emendation, adopted from the broadside + copies, for 'swain' in the MS. + 37.2: The last word added by Child: ep. 43.3, 104.2. + 39.4: A popular proverb. + 42.4: Cp. the horror of 'churles blood' in _Glasgerion_, 9.5,6 + (First Series, p. 5). + 60.1: 'Where thou was,' MS. + 63.4: The MS. reads '... robbed a 100: 3,' + 67.4: 'eye': the MS. gives _knee_. + 68.1: 'after' is superfluous (cp. 74.1), and is probably caught up + from the next line. + 70.2: 'let,' stop. + 78.4, 79.4: 'these': the MS. gives _this_ in each instance: + 'months' is probably to be read as a dissyllable, either as + 'moneths' or 'monthes.' + 85.4: 'Wroken,' avenged. + 101.4: 'sod,' soused: cp. _The Two Noble Kinsmen_, I.3, line 21; + 'lead,' cauldron: cp. _The Maid and the Palmer_, 9.2, p. 154. + 'Salting-leads' are still in use. + 104.4: 'pounds' inserted to agree with 43.4.] + + + + +THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON + + ++The Text+ is formed by a collation of six broadsides printed between +1672 and 1700: they do not, however, present many variations. Here, if +anywhere, one would demand licence to make alterations and improvements. +In stanza 12 the rhymes are almost certainly misplaced; and the last +stanza is quite superfluous. It would be much more in keeping with +ballad-style to end with the twelfth, and many of the variants now sung +conclude thus. This ballad is still extremely popular, and not only has +it been included in many selections and song-books, but it is also still +in oral tradition. + + ++The Story+ is simple and pre-eminently in the popular vein. +Counterparts exist elsewhere in the languages derived from Latin, and in +Romaic. + + +THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON + + 1. + There was a youth, and a well-belov'd youth, + And he was a squire's son, + He loved the bailiff's daughter dear, + That lived in Islington. + + 2. + She was coy, and she would not believe + That he did love her so, + No, nor at any time she would + Any countenance to him show. + + 3. + But when his friends did understand + His fond and foolish mind, + They sent him up to fair London, + An apprentice for to bind. + + 4. + And when he had been seven long years, + And his love he had not seen, + 'Many a tear have I shed for her sake + When she little thought of me.' + + 5. + All the maids of Islington + Went forth to sport and play; + All but the bailiff's daughter dear; + She secretly stole away. + + 6. + She put off her gown of gray, + And put on her puggish attire; + She's up to fair London gone, + Her true-love to require. + + 7. + As she went along the road, + The weather being hot and dry, + There was she aware of her true-love, + At length came riding by. + + 8. + She stept to him, as red as any rose, + And took him by the bridle-ring: + 'I pray you, kind sir, give me one penny, + To ease my weary limb.' + + 9. + 'I prithee, sweetheart, canst thou tell me + Where that thou wast born?' + 'At Islington, kind sir,' said she, + 'Where I have had many a scorn.' + + 10. + 'I prithee, sweetheart, canst thou tell me + Whether thou dost know + The bailiff's daughter of Islington?' + 'She's dead, sir, long ago.' + + 11. + 'Then I will sell my goodly steed, + My saddle and my bow; + I will into some far country, + Where no man doth me know.' + + 12. + 'O stay, O stay, thou goodly youth! + She's alive, she is not dead; + Here she standeth by thy side, + And is ready to be thy bride.' + + 13. + 'O farewell grief, and welcome joy, + Ten thousand times and more! + For now I have seen my own true love, + That I thought I should have seen no more.' + + + [Annotations: + 6.2: 'puggish.' 'Pugging' means 'thieving,' and J. W. Ebsworth + suggests that here it implies ragged clothing, like a tramp's. + 8.2: Five of the broadsides give 'bridal ring.'] + + + + +GLENLOGIE + + ++The Text+ is from Sharpe's _Ballad Book_ (1823). It is an extremely +popular ballad in Scotland. + + ++The Story.+--Lady Jean Melville (in other versions Jean of Bethelnie, +in Aberdeenshire), scarce sixteen years old, falls in love at first +sight with Glenlogie, and tells him her mind. But he is already engaged, +and Lady Jean takes to her care-bed. Her father offers the consolation, +usual in such cases, of another and a richer husband. Jean, however, +prefers the love of Glenlogie to the euphony of Drumfendrich, and gets +her father's chaplain to write a letter to Glenlogie, which is so well +indited that it moves him to tears, and all ends happily. + + +GLENLOGIE + + 1. + Four and twenty nobles sits in the king's ha', + Bonnie Glenlogie is the flower among them a'. + + 2. + In came Lady Jean, skipping on the floor, + And she has chosen Glenlogie 'mong a' that was there. + + 3. + She turned to his footman, and thus she did say: + 'Oh, what is his name? and where does he stay?' + + 4. + 'His name is Glenlogie, when he is from home; + He is of the gay Gordons, his name it is John.' + + 5. + 'Glenlogie, Glenlogie, an you will prove kind, + My love is laid on you; I am telling my mind.' + + 6. + He turned about lightly, as the Gordons does a': + 'I thank you, Lady Jean, my loves is promised awa'.' + + 7. + She called on her maidens her bed for to make, + Her rings and her jewels all from her to take. + + 8. + In came Jeanie's father, a wae man was he; + Says, 'I'll wed you to Drumfendrich, he has mair gold than he.' + + 9. + Her father's own chaplain, being a man of great skill, + He wrote him a letter, and indited it well. + + 10. + The first lines he looked at, a light laugh laughed he; + But ere he read through it the tears blinded his e'e. + + 11. + Oh, pale and wan looked she when Glenlogie cam in. + But even rosy grew she when Glenlogie sat down. + + 12. + 'Turn round, Jeanie Melville, turn round to this side, + And I'll be the bridegroom, and you'll be the bride.' + + 13. + Oh, 'twas a merry wedding, and the portion down told, + Of bonnie Jeanie Melville, who was scarce sixteen years old. + + + + +KING ORFEO + + ++The Text+ was derived from Mr. Biot Edmondston's memory of a ballad +sung to him by an old man in Unst, Shetland. In the version sung, he +notes, there were no stanzas to fill the obvious gap in the story after +the first; but that after the fourth and the eighth stanzas, there had +been certain verses which he had forgotten. In the first instance, these +related that the lady had been carried off by fairies, and that the +king, going in search of her, saw her one day among a company that +passed into a castle on the hillside. After the eighth stanza, the +ballad related that a messenger appeared behind the grey stone, and +invited the king in. + +The refrain is a startling instance of phonetic tradition, the words +being repeated by rote long after the sense has been forgotten. It +appears that the two lines are Unst pronunciation of Danish, and that +they mean, respectively, 'Early green's the wood,' and 'Where the hart +goes yearly.' + +In this connection, compare Arthur Edmondston's _A View of the Ancient +and Present State of the Zetland Islands_ (1809), vol. i. p. 142: 'The +island of Unst was its [pure Norse] last abode; and not more than thirty +years ago several individuals there could speak it fluently.' See also +Rev. Dr. Barry's _History of the Orkney Islands_ (1805), Appendix +No. X., pp. 484-490, a ballad of thirty-five quatrains in Norse as +spoken in the Orkneys, the subject of which is a contest between a King +of Norway and an Earl of Orkney, who had married the King's daughter, in +her father's absence, and without his consent. + + ++The Story.+--Doubtless few will recognise in this fragment an offshoot +of the classical story of Orpheus and Eurydice. The ballad, however, +cannot be said to be derived directly from the classical tale: rather it +represents the _debris_ of the mediaeval romance of _Orfeo and Heurodis_, +where the kingdom of Faery (see 4.1) replaces Hades, and the tale is +given a happy ending by the recovery of Eurydice (for whom the Lady +Isabel is here the substitute). The romance exists as _Orfeo and +Heurodis_ in the Auchinleck MS., of the fourteenth century, in the +Advocates' Library, Edinburgh; as _Kyng Orfew_ in Ashmole MS. 61, of the +fifteenth century; and as _Sir Orpheo_ in Harleian MS. 3810. + + +KING ORFEO + + 1. + Der lived a king inta da aste, + _Scowan uerla gruen_ + Der lived a lady in da wast. + _Whar giorten han gruen oarlac_ + + 2. + Dis king he has a huntin' gaen, + He's left his Lady Isabel alane. + + 3. + 'Oh I wis ye'd never gaen away, + For at your hame is doel an' wae. + + 4. + 'For da king o' Ferrie we his daert, + Has pierced your lady to da hert.' + + *** *** *** + + 5. + And aifter dem da king has gaen, + But whan he cam it was a grey stane. + + 6. + Dan he took oot his pipes ta play, + Bit sair his hert wi' doel an' wae. + + 7. + And first he played da notes o' noy, + An' dan he played da notes o' joy. + + 8. + An' dan he played da goed gabber reel, + Dat meicht ha' made a sick hert hale. + + *** *** *** + + 9. + 'Noo come ye in inta wir ha', + An' come ye in among wis a'.' + + 10. + Now he's gaen in inta der ha', + An' he's gaen in among dem a'. + + 11. + Dan he took out his pipes to play, + Bit sair his hert wi' doel an' wae. + + 12. + An' first he played da notes o' noy, + An' dan he played da notes o' joy. + + 13. + An' dan he played da goed gabber reel, + Dat meicht ha' made a sick hert hale. + + 14. + 'Noo tell to us what ye will hae: + What sall we gie you for your play?' + + 15. + 'What I will hae I will you tell, + And dat's me Lady Isabel.' + + 16. + 'Yees tak your lady, an' yees gaeng hame, + An' yees be king ower a' your ain.' + + 17. + He's taen his lady, an' he's gaen hame, + An' noo he's king ower a' his ain. + + + [Annotations: + 7.1: 'noy,' grief. + 8.1: 'The good gabber reel' is a sprightly dance-tune. + 9.1,2: 'wir,' 'wis,' our, us.] + + + + +THE BAFFLED KNIGHT + + ++The Text+ is from Ravenscroft's _Deuteromelia_ (1609), reprinted almost +_verbatim_ in Tom Durfey's _Pills to Purge Melancholy_. + + ++The Story+ was sufficiently popular not only to have been revived, at +the end of the seventeenth century, but to have had three other 'Parts' +added to it, the whole four afterwards being combined into one +broadside. + +In similar Spanish, Portuguese, and French ballads, the damsel escapes +by saying she is a leper, or the daughter of a leper, or otherwise +diseased. Much the same story is told in Danish and German ballads. + + +THE BAFFLED KNIGHT + + 1. + Yonder comes a courteous knight, + Lustely raking over the lay; + He was well ware of a bonny lasse, + As she came wand'ring over the way. + _Then she sang downe a downe, hey downe derry_ (_bis_) + + 2. + 'Jove you speed, fayre ladye,' he said, + 'Among the leaves that be so greene; + If I were a king, and wore a crowne, + Full soone, fair lady, shouldst thou be a queen. + + 3. + 'Also Jove save you, faire lady, + Among the roses that be so red; + If I have not my will of you, + Full soone, faire lady, shall I be dead.' + + 4. + Then he lookt east, then hee lookt west, + Hee lookt north, so did he south; + He could not finde a privy place, + For all lay in the divel's mouth. + + 5. + 'If you will carry me, gentle sir, + A mayde unto my father's hall, + Then you shall have your will of me, + Under purple and under paule.' + + 6. + He set her up upon a steed, + And him selfe upon another, + And all the day he rode her by, + As though they had been sister and brother. + + 7. + When she came to her father's hall, + It was well walled round about; + She yode in at the wicket-gate, + And shut the foure-ear'd foole without. + + 8. + 'You had me,' quoth she, 'abroad in the field, + Among the corne, amidst the hay, + Where you might had your will of mee, + For, in good faith, sir, I never said nay. + + 9. + 'Ye had me also amid the field, + Among the rushes that were so browne, + Where you might had your will of me, + But you had not the face to lay me downe.' + + 10. + He pulled out his nut-browne sword, + And wipt the rust off with his sleeve, + And said, 'Jove's curse come to his heart, + That any woman would beleeve!' + + 11. + When you have your own true-love + A mile or twaine out of the towne, + Spare not for her gay clothing, + But lay her body flat on the ground. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2: 'lay' = lea, meadow-land. + 4.4: 'divel's mouth.' Skeat has suggested that this metaphor is + derived from the devil's mouth always being wide open in painted + windows. + 7.3: 'yode,' went. + 7.4: 'foure-ear'd.' Child suggests, 'as denoting a double ass?' + 10.1,2: See First Series, Introduction, p. xlix.] + + + + +OUR GOODMAN + + ++The Text+ is from Herd's MSS., as given by Professor Child to form a +regular sequence. The ballad also exists in an English broadside form. + + ++The Story+ of the ballad has a close counterpart in Flemish Belgium, +and in southern France. The German variants, however, have a curious +history. The English broadside ballad was translated into German by +F. W. Meyer in 1789, and in this form gained such popularity that it was +circulated not only as a broadside, but actually in oral +tradition,--with the usual result of alteration. Its vogue was not +confined to Germany, but spread to Hungary and Scandinavia, a Swedish +broadside appearing within ten years of Meyer's translation. + + +OUR GOODMAN + + 1. + Hame came our goodman, + And hame came he, + And then he saw a saddle-horse, + Where nae horse should be. + + 2. + 'What's this now, goodwife? + What's this I see? + How came this horse here, + Without the leave o' me?' + _Recitative_. + 'A horse?' quo' she. + 'Ay, a horse,' quo' he. + + 3. + 'Shame fa' your cuckold face, + Ill mat ye see! + 'Tis naething but a broad sow, + My minnie sent to me.' + 'A broad sow?' quo' he. + 'Ay, a sow,' quo' shee. + + 4. + 'Far hae I ridden, + And farer hae I gane, + But a saddle on a sow's back + I never saw nane.' + + 5. + Hame came our goodman, + And hame came he; + He spy'd a pair of jack-boots, + Where nae boots should be. + + 6. + 'What's this now, goodwife? + What's this I see? + How came these boots here, + Without the leave o' me?' + 'Boots?' quo' she. + 'Ay, boots,' quo' he. + + 7. + 'Shame fa' your cuckold face, + And ill mat ye see! + It's but a pair of water-stoups, + My minnie sent to me.' + 'Water-stoups?' quo' he. + 'Ay, water-stoups,' quo' she. + + 8. + 'Far hae I ridden, + And farer hae I gane, + But siller spurs on water-stoups + I saw never nane.' + + 9. + Hame came our goodman, + And hame came he, + And he saw a sword, + Whare a sword should na be. + + 10. + 'What's this now, goodwife? + What's this I see? + How came this sword here, + Without the leave o' me?' + 'A sword?' quo' she. + 'Ay, a sword,' quo' he. + + 11. + 'Shame fa' your cuckold face, + Ill mat ye see! + It's but a porridge-spurtle, + My minnie sent to me.' + 'A spurtle?' quo' he. + 'Ay, a spurtle,' quo' she. + + 12. + 'Far hae I ridden, + And farer hae I gane, + But siller-handed spurtles + I saw never nane.' + + 13. + Hame came our goodman, + And hame came he; + There he spy'd a powder'd wig, + Where nae wig shoud be. + + 14. + 'What's this now, goodwife? + What's this I see? + How came this wig here, + Without the leave o' me?' + 'A wig?' quo' she. + 'Ay, a wig,' quo' he. + + 15. + 'Shame fa' your cuckold face, + And ill mat you see! + 'Tis naething but a clocken-hen, + My minnie sent to me.' + 'Clocken hen?' quo' he. + 'Ay, clocken hen,' quo' she. + + 16. + 'Far hae I ridden, + And farer hae I gane, + But powder on a clocken-hen + I saw never nane.' + + 17. + Hame came our goodman, + And hame came he, + And there he saw a muckle coat, + Where nae coat shoud be. + + 18. + 'What's this now, goodwife? + What's this I see? + How came this coat here, + Without the leave o' me?' + 'A coat?' quo' she. + 'Ay, a coat,' quo' he. + + 19. + 'Shame fa' your cuckold face, + Ill mat ye see! + It's but a pair o' blankets, + My minnie sent to me.' + 'Blankets?' quo' he. + 'Ay, blankets,' quo' she. + + 20. + 'Far hae I ridden, + And farer hae I gane, + But buttons upon blankets + I saw never nane.' + + 21. + Ben went our goodman, + And ben went he, + And there he spy'd a sturdy man, + Where nae man shoud be. + + 22. + 'What's this now, goodwife? + What's this I see? + How came this man here, + Without the leave o' me?' + 'A man?' quo' she. + 'Ay, a man,' quo' he. + + 23. + 'Poor blind body, + And blinder mat ye be! + It's a new milking-maid, + My mither sent to me.' + 'A maid?' quo' he. + 'Ay, a maid,' quo' she. + + 24. + 'Far hae I ridden, + And farer hae I gane, + But lang-bearded maidens + I saw never nane.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.2: 'mat,' may. + 3.3: 'broad,' brood: _i.e._ a sow that has a litter. + 3.4: 'minnie,' mother. + 11.3: 'porridge-spurtle,' stick for stirring porridge. + 15.3: 'clocken-hen,' sitting hen. + 21.1: 'Ben,' indoors, or into the inner room.] + + + + +THE FRIAR IN THE WELL + + ++The Text+ is taken from Buchan's MSS., the Scots version being rather +more condensed than the corresponding English broadside. There is a +reference to this ballad in Munday's _Downfall of Robert, Earl of +Huntington_ (1598); but earlier still, Skelton hints at it in _Colyn +Cloute_. + + ++The Story+ can be paralleled in French, Danish, and Persian ballads and +tales, but is simple enough to have been invented by almost any people. +Compare also the story of _The Wright's Chaste Wife_ by Adam of Cobsam, +E.E.T.S., 1865, ed. F. J. Furnivall. + + +THE FRIAR IN THE WELL + + 1. + O hearken and hear, and I will you tell + _Sing, Faldidae, faldidadi_ + Of a friar that loved a fair maiden well. + _Sing, Faldi dadi di di_ (_bis_) + + 2. + The friar he came to this maiden's bedside, + And asking for her maidenhead. + + 3. + 'O I would grant you your desire, + If 't werena for fear o' hell's burning fire.' + + 4. + 'O' hell's burning fire ye need have no doubt; + Altho' you were in, I could whistle you out.' + + 5. + 'O if I grant to you this thing, + Some money you unto me must bring.' + + 6. + He brought her the money, and did it down tell; + She had a white cloth spread over the well. + + 7. + Then the fair maid cried out that her master was come; + 'O,' said the friar,' then where shall I run?' + + 8. + 'O ye will go in behind yon screen, + And then by my master ye winna be seen.' + + 9. + Then in behind the screen she him sent, + But he fell into the well by accident. + + 10. + Then the friar cried out with a piteous moan, + 'O help! O help me! or else I am gone.' + + 11. + 'Ye said ye wad whistle me out o' hell; + Now whistle your ain sel' out o' the well.' + + 12. + She helped him out and bade him be gone; + The friar he asked his money again. + + 13. + 'As for your money, there is no much matter + To make you pay more for jumbling our water.' + + 14. + Then all who hear it commend this fair maid + For the nimble trick to the friar she played. + + 15. + The friar he walked on the street, + And shaking his lugs like a well-washen sheep. + + + [Annotations: + 1.2,4: The burden is of course repeated in each stanza. + 15.2: 'lugs,' ears.] + + + + +THE KNIGHT AND THE SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER + + ++The Text+ is given here from Kinloch's MSS. He gives also three other +versions and various fragments. The tale is also found amongst the +Roxburghe Ballads, as _The Beautifull Shepherdesse of Arcadia_, in two +broadsides printed about 1655 and 1680. This is the only English version +extant. But earlier than any text of the ballad is a quotation from it +in John Fletcher's _The Pilgrim_, iv. 2 (1621). The Scots versions, +about a dozen in number, are far more lively than the broadside. Buchan +printed two, of sixty and sixty-three stanzas respectively. Another text +is delightfully inconsequent:-- + + '"Some ca' me Jack, some ca' me John, + Some ca' me Jing-ga-lee, + But when I am in the queen's court + Earl Hitchcock they ca' me." + + "Hitchcock, Hitchcock," Jo Janet she said, + An' spelled it ower agane, + "Hitchcock it's a Latin word; + Earl Richard is your name." + + But when he saw she was book-learned, + Fast to his horse hied he....' + +Both this version (from the Gibb MS.) and one of Buchan's introduce the +domestic genius known as the 'Billy-Blin,' for whom see _Young Bekie_, +First Series, p. 6, ff.; _Willie's Lady_, p. 19 of this volume; and +_Cospatrick_, p. 26. + + ++The Story.+--The King of France's auld dochter, disguised as a +shepherdess, is accosted by Sweet William, brother to the Queen of +Scotland, who gives his name as Wilfu' Will, varied by Jack and John. He +attempts to escape, but she follows him to court, and claims him in +marriage from the king. He tries to avoid discovery by pretending to be +a cripple, but she knows him, refuses to be bribed, marries him, and +finally reveals herself to him. + +The _denouement_ of the story is reminiscent of _The Marriage of Sir +Gawain_ (First Series, pp. 107-118). A Danish ballad, _Ebbe Galt_, has +similar incidents. + + +THE KNIGHT AND THE SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER + + 1. + There was a shepherd's dochter + Kept sheep upon yon hill, + And by cam a gay braw gentleman, + And wad hae had his will. + + 2. + He took her by the milk-white hand, + And laid her on the ground, + And whan he got his will o' her + He lift her up again. + + 3. + 'O syne ye've got your will o' me, + Your will o' me ye've taen, + 'Tis all I ask o' you, kind sir, + Is to tell to me your name.' + + 4. + 'Sometimes they call me Jack,' he said, + 'Sometimes they call me John, + But whan I am in the king's court, + My name is Wilfu' Will.' + + 5. + Than he loup on his milk-white steed, + And straught away he rade, + And she did kilt her petticoats, + And after him she gaed. + + 6. + He never was sae kind as say, + 'O lassie, will ye ride?' + Nor ever had she the courage to say, + 'O laddie, will ye bide!' + + 7. + Until they cam to a wan water, + Which was called Clyde, + And then he turned about his horse, + Said, 'Lassie, will ye ride?' + + 8. + 'I learned it in my father's hall, + I learned it for my weel, + That whan I come to deep water, + I can swim as it were an eel. + + 9. + 'I learned it in my mother's bower, + I learned it for my better, + That whan I come to broad water, + I can swim like any otter.' + + 10. + He plunged his steed into the ford, + And straught way thro' he rade, + And she set in her lilly feet, + And thro' the water wade. + + 11. + And whan she cam to the king's court, + She tirled on the pin, + And wha sae ready's the king himsel' + To let the fair maid in? + + 12. + 'What is your will wi' me, fair maid? + What is your will wi' me?' + 'There is a man into your court + This day has robbed me.' + + 13. + 'O has he taen your gold,' he said, + 'Or has he taen your fee? + Or has he stown your maidenhead, + The flower of your bodye?' + + 14. + 'He has na taen my gold, kind sir, + Nor as little has he taen my fee, + But he has taen my maidenhead, + The flower of my bodye.' + + 15. + 'O gif he be a married man, + High hangit shall he be, + But gif he be a bachelor, + His body I'll grant thee.' + + 16. + 'Sometimes they call him Jack,' she said, + 'Sometimes they call him John, + But when he's in the king's court, + His name is Sweet William.' + + 17. + 'There's not a William in a' my court, + Never a one but three, + And one of them is the Queen's brother; + I wad laugh gif it war he.' + + 18. + The king called on his merry men, + By thirty and by three; + Sweet Willie, wha used to be foremost man, + Was the hindmost a' but three. + + 19. + O he cam cripple, and he cam blind, + Cam twa-fald o'er a tree: + 'O be he cripple, or be he blind, + This very same man is he.' + + 20. + 'O whether will ye marry the bonny may, + Or hang on the gallows-tree?' + 'O I will rather marry the bonny may, + Afore that I do die.' + + 21. + But he took out a purse of gold, + Weel locked in a glove: + 'O tak ye that, my bonny may, + And seek anither love.' + + 22. + 'O I will hae none o' your gold,' she says, + 'Nor as little ony of your fee, + But I will hae your ain body, + The king has granted me.' + + 23. + O he took out a purse of gold; + A purse of gold and store; + 'O tak ye that, fair may,' he said, + 'Frae me ye'll ne'er get mair.' + + 24. + 'O haud your tongue, young man,' she says, + 'And I pray you let me be; + For I will hae your ain body, + The king has granted me.' + + 25. + He mounted her on a bonny bay horse, + Himsel' on the silver grey; + He drew his bonnet out o'er his een, + He whipt and rade away. + + 26. + O whan they cam to yon nettle bush, + The nettles they war spread: + 'O an my mither war but here,' she says, + 'These nettles she wad sned.' + + 27. + 'O an I had drank the wan water + Whan I did drink the wine, + That e'er a shepherd's dochter + Should hae been a love o' mine!' + + 28. + 'O may be I'm a shepherd's dochter, + And may be I am nane! + But you might hae ridden on your ways, + And hae let me alane.' + + 29. + O whan they cam unto yon mill + She heard the mill clap: + ... ... ... + ... ... ... + + 30. + 'Clap on, clap on, thou bonny mill, + Weel may thou, I say, + For mony a time thou's filled my pock + Wi' baith oat-meal and grey.' + + 31. + 'O an I had drank the wan water + Whan I did drink the wine, + That e'er a shepherd's dochter + Should hae been a love o' mine!' + + 32. + 'O may be I'm a shepherd's dochter, + And may be I am nane; + But you might hae ridden on your ways, + And hae let me alane. + + 33. + 'But yet I think a fitter match + Could scarcely gang thegither + Than the King of France's auld dochter + And the Queen of Scotland's brither.' + + + [Annotations: + 8.2: 'weel,' advantage. So, in the comparative, 'better,' 9.2. + 19.2: 'twa-fald o'er a tree,' bent double on a stick. + 26.4: 'Sned,' cut, lop. + 29.2: Two lines wanting in the MS. + 30.3: 'pock,' bag. + 30.4: 'grey,' _i.e._ grey meal, barley.] + + + + +GET UP AND BAR THE DOOR + + ++The Text+ is from Herd's _Ancient and Modern Scots Songs_ (1769), which +is almost identical with a copy in Johnson's _Museum_. Another variant, +also given in the _Museum_, was contributed by Burns, who made it +shorter and more dramatic. + + ++The Story+ of this farcical ballad has long been popular in many lands, +European and Oriental, and has been introduced as an episode in English, +French, and German plays. A close parallel to the ballad may be found in +Straparola, Day VIII., first story. + + +GET UP AND BAR THE DOOR + + 1. + It fell about the Martinmas time, + And a gay time it was then, + When our goodwife got puddings to make, + And she's boil'd them in the pan. + + 2. + The wind sae cauld blew south and north, + And blew into the floor; + Quoth our goodman to our goodwife, + 'Gae out and bar the door.' + + 3. + 'My hand is in my hussyfskep, + Goodman, as ye may see; + An it shoud nae be barr'd this hundred year, + It's no be barr'd for me.' + + 4. + They made a paction 'tween them twa, + They made it firm and sure, + That the first word whae'er shoud speak, + Shoud rise and bar the door. + + 5. + Then by there came two gentlemen, + At twelve o'clock at night, + And they could neither see house nor hall, + Nor coal nor candle-light. + + 6. + 'Now whether is this a rich man's house, + Or whether is it a poor?' + But ne'er a word wad ane o' them speak, + For barring of the door. + + 7. + And first they ate the white puddings, + And then they ate the black; + Tho' muckle thought the goodwife to hersel', + Yet ne'er a word she spake. + + 8. + Then said the one unto the other, + 'Here, man, tak ye my knife; + Do ye tak aff the auld man's beard, + And I'll kiss the goodwife.' + + 9. + 'But there's nae water in the house, + And what shall we do than?' + 'What ails ye at the pudding-broo, + That boils into the pan?' + + 10. + O up then started our goodman, + An angry man was he: + 'Will ye kiss my wife before my een, + And sca'd me wi' pudding-bree?' + + 11. + Then up and started our goodwife, + Gi'ed three skips on the floor: + 'Goodman, you've spoken the foremost word, + Get up and bar the door.' + + + [Annotations: + 3.1: 'hussyfskep' = housewife's skep, a straw basket for meal. + 6.4: 'For,' _i.e._ to prevent: cp. _Child Waters_, 28.6 (First + Series, p. 41). + 9.3: 'what ails ye,' etc. = why not use the pudding-broth. + 10.4: 'sca'd,' scald.] + + + + +END OF THE SECOND SERIES + + +[Blank Page] + + + + +APPENDIX + + + + +THE GREAT SILKIE OF SULE SKERRIE (p. 63) + + +Since the version given in the text was in type, my friend Mr. +A. Francis Steuart of Edinburgh has kindly pointed out to me the +following fuller and better variant of the ballad, which was unknown to +Professor Child. It may be found in R. Menzies Fergusson's _Rambling +Sketches in the Far North and Orcadian Musings_ (1883), pp. 140-141, +whence I have copied it, only adding the numbers to the stanzas. + + +THE GREY SELCHIE OF SHOOL SKERRY + + 1. + In Norway lands there lived a maid, + 'Hush, ba, loo lillie,' this maid began; + 'I know not where my baby's father is, + Whether by land or sea does he travel in.' + + 2. + It happened on a certain day, + When this fair lady fell fast asleep, + That in cam' a good grey selchie, + And set him doon at her bed feet, + + 3. + Saying, 'Awak', awak', my pretty fair maid. + For oh! how sound as thou dost sleep! + An' I'll tell thee where thy baby's father is; + He's sittin' close at thy bed feet.' + + 4. + 'I pray, come tell to me thy name, + Oh! tell me where does thy dwelling be?' + 'My name it is good Hein Mailer, + An' I earn my livin' oot o' the sea. + + 5. + 'I am a man upon the land; + I am a selchie in the sea; + An' whin I'm far frae every strand, + My dwellin' is in Shool Skerrie.' + + 6. + 'Alas! alas! this woeful fate! + This weary fate that's been laid for me! + That a man should come frae the Wast o' Hoy, + To the Norway lands to have a bairn wi' me.' + + 7. + 'My dear, I'll wed thee with a ring, + With a ring, my dear, I'll wed wi' thee.' + 'Thoo may go wed thee weddens wi' whom thoo wilt; + For I'm sure thoo'll never wed none wi' me.' + + 8. + 'Thoo will nurse my little wee son + For seven long years upo' thy knee, + An' at the end o' seven long years + I'll come back an' pay the norish fee.' + + 9. + She's nursed her little wee son + For seven long years upo' her knee, + An' at the end o' seven long years + He cam' back wi' gold an' white monie. + + 10. + She says, 'My dear, I'll wed thee wi' a ring, + With a ring, my dear, I'll wed wi' thee.' + 'Thoo may go wed thee weddens wi' whom thoo will; + For I'm sure thoo'll never wed none wi' me. + + 11. + 'But I'll put a gold chain around his neck, + An' a gey good gold chain it'll be, + That if ever he comes to the Norway lands, + Thoo may hae a gey good guess on hi'. + + 12. + 'An' thoo will get a gunner good, + An' a gey good gunner it will be, + An' he'll gae oot on a May mornin' + An' shoot the son an' the grey selchie.' + + 13. + Oh! she has got a gunner good, + An' a gey good gunner it was he, + An' he gaed oot on a May mornin', + An' he shot the son and the grey selchie. + +When the gunner returned from his expedition and showed the Norway woman +the gold chain, which he had found round the neck of the young seal, the +poor woman, realising that her son had perished, gives expression to her +sorrow in the last stanza:-- + + 14. + 'Alas! alas! this woeful fate! + This weary fate that's been laid for me!' + An' ance or twice she sobbed and sighed, + An' her tender heart did brak in three. + ++Note.+ --Doubtless _grey_ selchie is more correct than _great_, as in +the other version. Some verses were forgotten after stanza 13. + + + + +THE LYKE-WAKE DIRGE (p. 88) + + 'Art thow i-wont at lychwake + Any playes for to make?' + +John Myrc's _Instructions for Parish Priests_ (circa 1450). + + +Aubrey's version of _The Lyke-Wake Dirge_ is printed, more or less +correctly, in the following places:-- + +i. Brand. _Observations on Popular Antiquities_, ed. Ellis (1813), ii. +180-81. (Not in first edition of Brand.) + +ii. W. J. Thoms. _Anecdotes and Traditions_, Camden Society, 1839, pp. +88-90, and notes pp. 90-91, which are reprinted by Britten (see below). + +iii. W. K. Kelly. _Curiosities of Indo-European Tradition and Folklore_, +1863, pp. 116-17. + +iv. Edward Peacock. In notes, pp. 90-92, to John Myrc's _Instructions +for Parish Priests_, E.E.T.S., 1868. (Re-edited by F. J. Furnivall for +the E.E.T.S., 1902, where the notes are on pp. 92-94.) + +v. James Britten. _Aubrey's Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme:_ the +whole MS. edited for the Folklore Society, 1881, pp. 30-32. + +Aubrey's remarks and sidenotes are as follow (Lansdowne MS. 231, fol. +114 _recto_):-- + + 'From Mr. Mawtese, in whose father's youth, sc. about 60 yeares + since now (1686), at country vulgar Funerals, was sung this song. + + 'At the Funeralls in Yorkeshire, to this day, they continue the + custome of watching & sitting up all night till the body is + inhersed. In the interim some kneel down and pray (by the corps) + some play at cards some drink & take Tobacco: they have also + Mimicall playes & sports, e.g. they choose a simple young fellow to + be a Judge, then the suppliants (having first blacked their hands by + rubbing it under the bottom of the Pott) beseech his Lo:p [_i.e._ + Lordship] and smutt all his face. ['They play likewise at + Hott-cockles.' --_Sidenote._] Juvenal, Satyr II. + + "Esse aliquos manes, et subterranea regna, + "Et contum, & Stygio ranas in gurgite nigras, + "Atq. una transire vadum tot millia cymba. + + 'This beliefe in Yorkshire was amongst the vulgar (& phaps is in + part still) that after the persons death, the Soule went over Whinny + moore ['Whin is a furze.' --_Sidenote_.] and till about 1616 (1624) + at the Funerall a woman came [like a Praefica] and sung this + following Song.' + +Then follow several verses scratched out, and then the Dirge, to which, +however, is prefixed the remark, + + 'This not ye first verse.' + +As regards the doubtful reading 'sleete' for 'fleet,' there is curiously +contradictory evidence. Pennant, in his _Tour in Scotland_, MDCCLXIX. +(Chester, 1771, pp. 91-92), remarks:-- + + 'On the death of a Highlander, the corps being stretched on a board, + and covered with a coarse linen wrapper, the friends lay on the + breast of the deceased a wooden platter, containing a small quantity + of salt and earth, separate and unmixed; the earth, an emblem of the + corruptible body; the salt, an emblem of the immortal spirit. All + fire is extinguished where a corps is kept; and it is reckoned so + ominous, for a dog or cat to pass over it, that the poor animal is + killed without mercy. + + 'The _Late-wake_ is a ceremony used at funerals: the evening after + the death of any person, the relations and friends of the deceased + meet at the house, attended by bagpipe or fiddle; the nearest of + kin, be it wife, son, or daughter, opens a melancholy ball, dancing + and greeting; _i.e._ crying violently at the same time; and this + continues till daylight; but with such gambols and frolicks, among + the younger part of the company, that the loss which occasioned them + is often more than supplied by the consequences of that night. If + the corps remains unburied for two nights the same rites are + renewed.' + +The Rev. J. C. Atkinson, on the other hand, states the contrary +regarding the fire,--see his _Glossary of the Cleveland Dialect_ (1868), +p. 595. He supposes 'fleet' to be equivalent to the Cleveland 'flet,' +live embers. 'The usage, hardly extinct even yet in the district, was on +no account to suffer the fire in the house to go out during the entire +time the corpse lay in it, and throughout the same time a candle was (or +is yet) invariably kept burning in the same room with the corpse.' + +Bishop Kennett, in Lansdowne MS. 1033, fol. 132, confirms Aubrey's gloss +of 'fleet' = water, in quoting the first verse of the dirge. He adds, +'hence the _Fleet_, _Fleet-ditch_, in _Lond._ Sax. fleod, amnis, +fluvius.' + + +The 'Brig o' Dread' (which is perhaps a corruption of 'the Bridge of +the Dead'), 'Whinny-moor,' and the Hell-shoon, have parallels in many +folklores. Thus, for the Brig, the Mohammedans have their _Al-Sirat_, +finer than a hair, sharper than a razor, stretched over the midst of +hell. The early Scandinavian mythology told of a bridge over the river +Gioell on the road to hell. + +In Snorri's _Edda_, when Hermodhr went to seek the soul of Baldr, he was +told by the keeper of the bridge, a maiden named Modhgudhr, that the +bridge rang beneath no feet save his. Similarly Vergil tells us that +Charon's boat (which is also a parallel to the Brig) was almost sunk by +the weight of Aeneas. + +Whinny-moor is also found in Norse and German mythology. It has to be +traversed by all departed souls on their way to the realms of Hel or +Hela, the Goddess of Death. These realms were not only a place of +punishment: all who died went there, even the gods themselves taking +nine days and nights on the journey. The souls of Eskimo travel to +Torngarsuk, where perpetual summer reigns; but the way thither is five +days' slide down a precipice covered with the blood of those who have +gone before. + +The passage of Whinny-moor or its equivalent is facilitated by +Hell-shoon. These are obtained by the soul in various ways: the +charitable gift of a pair of shoes during life assures the right to use +them in crossing Whinny-moor; or a pair must be burned with the corpse, +or during the wake. In one of his Dialogues, Lucian makes the wife of +Eukrates return for the slipper which they had forgotten to burn. + +Another parallel, though more remote, to the Hell-shoon, is afforded by +the account of one William Staunton, who, like so many others, was +privileged to see a vision of Purgatory and of the Earthly Paradise, on +the first Friday after the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross in the +year 1409. Accounts of such experiences, it may be remarked here, were +popular from the tenth century onwards amongst the Anglo-Saxons and +English, especially after the middle of the twelfth century, when the +story of the famous 'St. Patrick's Purgatory' was first published. +William Staunton relates (Royal MS. 17 B. xliii. in the British Museum) +that in one part of Purgatory, as he went along the side of a 'water, +the which was blak and fowle to sight,' he saw on the further side a +tower, with a fair woman standing thereon, and a ladder against the +tower: but 'hit was so litille, as me thowght that it wold onnethe +[scarcely] bere ony thing; and the first rong of the ladder was so that +onnethe might my fynger reche therto, and that rong was sharper than ony +rasor.' Hearing a 'grisly noyse' coming towards him, William 'markid' +himself with a prayer, and the noise vanished, and he saw a rope let +down over the ladder from the top of the tower. And when the woman had +drawn him safely to the top, she told him that the cord was one that he +had once given to a chapman who had been robbed. + +The whole subject of St. Patrick's Purgatory is extremely interesting; +but it is outside our present scope, and can best be studied in +connection with the mythology of the _Lyke-wake Dirge_ in Thomas +Wright's _St. Patrick's Purgatory_ (1844). The popularity of the story +is attested by accounts extant in some thirty-five Latin and English +MSS. in the British Museum, in the Bodleian, at Cambridge, and at +Edinburgh. Calderon wrote a drama round the myth, _El Purgatorio de San +Patricio_; Robert Southey a ballad; and an early poem of George +Wither's, lost in MS., treated of the same subject. Recently the tale +has received attention in G. P. Krapp's _Legend of St. Patrick's +Purgatory_, Baltimore, 1900. + +A correspondent in _Notes and Queries_, 9th Ser., xii. 475 (December 12, +1903), remarks that the 'liche-wake' is still spoken of in the Peak +district of Derbyshire. + + + + +INDEX OF TITLES + Page + + Adam 123 + Allison Gross 9 + A Noble Riddle Wisely Expounded 159 + + Baffled Knight, The 212 + Bailiff's Daughter of Islington, The 202 + Bonnie George Campbell 95 + Bonny Bee Ho'm 100 + Bonny Earl of Murray, The 92 + Broomfield Hill, The 115 + Brown Robyn's Confession 143 + + Captain Wedderburn 162 + Carnal and the Crane, The 133 + Cherry Tree Carol, The 129 + Clerk Colven 43 + Clerk Sanders 66 + Clerk's Twa Sons o' Owsenford, The 56 + Cospatrick 26 + + Daemon Lover, The 112 + Dives and Lazarus 139 + + Elphin Knight, The 170 + + Fair Helen of Kirconnell 104 + Fause Knight upon the Road, The 180 + Friar in the Well, The 221 + + Get up and Bar the Door 231 + Glenlogie 205 + Great Silkie of Sule Skerrie, The 63 + Grey Selchie of Shool Skerry, The 235 + + Jew's Daughter, The 107 + Judas 145 + + Kemp Owyne 16 + King John and the Abbot 173 + King Orfeo 208 + Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter, The 224 + + Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight 155 + Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea, The 12 + Lament of the Border Widow, The 197 + Lord of Learne, The 182 + Lowlands of Holland, The 102 + Lyke-wake Dirge 88 + + Maid and the Palmer, The 152 + + Our Goodman 215 + + Queen of Elfan's Nourice, The 6 + + Saint Stephen and King Herod 125 + Sir Hugh, or the Jew's Daughter 107 + + Tam Lin 47 + Thomas Rymer 1 + Three Ravens, The 80 + Twa Corbies, The 82 + + Unquiet Grave, The 41 + + Wee Wee Man, The 24 + Wife of Usher's Well, The 60 + Willie's Fatal Visit 119 + + Young Akin 32 + Young Benjie 83 + Young Hunting 74 + + +INDEX OF FIRST LINES + Page + + Adam lay i-bowndyn 123 + An ancient story Ile tell you anon 174 + An eartly nourris sits and sings 64 + As I pass'd by a river side 134 + As it fell out upon a day 140 + As I was wa'king all alone (Wee Wee Man) 24 + As I was walking all alane (Twa Corbies) 82 + + By Arthur's Dale as late I went 100 + + Clark Colven and his gay ladie 44 + Clark Sanders and May Margret 66 + Cospatrick has sent o'er the faem 26 + + Der lived a king inta da aste 209 + + Fair lady Isabel sits in her bower sewing 157 + Four and twenty bonny boys 109 + Four and twenty nobles sits in the king's ha' 205 + + Hame came our goodman 215 + Her mother died when she was young 16 + Hie upon Hielands 95 + Hit wes upon a Scere-thorsday 146 + + I have a yong suster 163 + I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low 6 + In Norway Lands there lived a maid 235 + It fell about the Martinmas time 231 + It fell upon a Wodensday 143 + It was the worthy lord of Learne 184 + It was upon a Scere-Thursday (paraphrase) 147 + I wish I were where Helen lies 105 + 'I was but seven year auld 12 + + Joseph was an old man 129 + + Lady Margaret sits in her bower door 32 + + My love has built a bony ship, + and set her on the sea 102 + My love he built me a bonny bower 98 + + O Allison Gross, that lives in yon tow'r 9 + Of a' the maids o' fair Scotland 84 + O hearken and hear, and I will you tell 221 + O I forbid you, maidens a' 49 + O I will sing to you a sang 56 + 'O lady, rock never your young son young 75 + 'O whare are ye gaun? 180 + 'O whare hae ye been, my dearest dear 113 + + Seynt Stevene was a clerk 126 + + The elphin knight sits on yon hill 170 + The Lord of Rosslyn's daughter + gaed through the wud her lane 164 + The maid shee went to the well to washe 153 + 'The wind doth blow to-day, my love 41 + There lived a wife at Usher's Well 60 + There was a knight and a lady bright 116 + There was a lady of the North Country 159 + There was a shepherd's dochter 225 + There was a youth, and a well-belov'd youth 202 + There were three rauens sat on a tree 80 + This ean night, this ean night 90 + True Thomas lay o'er yond grassy bank 2 + 'Twas on an evening fair I went to take the air 119 + + Willie has taen him o'er the fame 20 + + Ye Highlands and ye Lawlands 93 + Yonder comes a courteous knight 212 + + + + +Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the +Edinburgh University Press + + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +_Errata_ (noted by transcriber): + + Thomas Rymer, Introduction: + Thomas of Erceldoune his prophetic powers were given him by the + Queen of Elfland [_text unchanged_] + + Clerk Sanders 4.2, note: + it ... part of the door-latch. + [_A word is missing at line-end_] + + The Lyke-Wake Dirge 2.4: + and Christ recieve thy [thy silly poor] Sawle. + [_bracketed text is in smaller type above line, inserted between + "thy" and "silly": see Note_] + +_Missing or Invisible Punctuation_ + + Thomas Rymer 11.2: + 'Lay down your head upon my knee,' [_close quote missing_] + Tam Lin, Introduction: + the nereid cried out, 'Let go my child, dog!' + [_invisible close quote_] + The Three Ravens 1.7: + _With a downe derrie, derrie, derrie, downe, downe._ + [_missing or invisible final period (full stop)_] + King John and the Abbot of Canterbury 14.4: + To within one penny of what he is worth. + [_missing or invisible final period (full stop)_] + The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington 13.1: + 'O farewell grief, and welcome joy, [_open quote missing_] + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ballads of Mystery and Miracle and +Fyttes of Mirth, by Frank Sidgwick + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BALLADS OF MYSTERY AND MIRACLE *** + +***** This file should be named 25511.txt or 25511.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/5/5/1/25511/ + +Produced by Louise Hope, Paul Murray and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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